T^E   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND 


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THE 


CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND 


BY  pX' 

JOHN   RICHARD   GREEN,  M.A.,  LL.D. 

HONORARY   FELLOW  OF  JESUS  COLLEGE,  OXFORD 

AUTHOR  OF   "history  OF  THE  ENGLISH  PEOPLE*'    " SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE 

ENGLISH   PEOPLE"   "THE  MAKING  OF  ENGLAND"  ETC. 


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'UNIVBRSIT 


NEW    YORK 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS  FRANKLIN   SQUARE 

1884 


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PREFACE. 


A  FEW  words  of  introduction  are  needed  to  the 
following  unfinished  story  of  the  "  Conquest  of  Eng- 
land," in  which  I  may  explain  how  far  these  pages, 
in  their  present  form,  represent  the  final  work  and 
intention  of  their  writer.  I  cannot  do  this  save  by 
giving  some  short  account  of  how  the  book  was 
written,  and  the  tale  of  the  two  volumes,  the  "  Mak- 
ing of  England  "  and  the  "  Conquest  of  England," 
forms,  in  fact,  but  one  story. 

After  Mr.  Green  had  closed  his  fourth  volume  of 
his  "  History  of  the  English  People,"  an  apparent 
pause  in  the  illness  against  which  he  had  long  been 
struggling  made  it  seem  possible  that  some  years 
of  life  might  yet  lie  before  him.  For  the  first  time 
he  could  look  forward  to  labor  less  fettered  and 
hindered  than  of  old  by  stress  of  weakness,  in 
which  he  might  gather  up  the  fruit  of  past  years 
of  preparation ;  and  with  the  vehement  ardor  of  a 
new  hope  he  threw  himself  into  schemes  of  work 
till  then  denied  him.  But  he  had  scarcely  begun 
to  shape  his  plans  when  they  were  suddenly  cut 
down.  In  the  early  spring  of  1881  he  was  seized 
by  a  violent  attack  of  illness,  and  it  needed  but  a 


vi  PREFACE. 

little  time  to  show  that  there  could  never  be  any 
return  to  hope.  The  days  that  might  still  be  left 
to  him  must  henceforth  be  conquered  day  by  day 
from  death.  In  the  extremity  of  ruin  and  defeat 
he  found  a  higher  fidelity  and  a  perfect  strength. 
The  way  of  success  was  closed,  the  way  of  coura- 
geous effort  still  lay  open.  Touched  with  the  spirit 
of  that  impassioned  patriotism  which  animated  all 
his  powers,  he  believed  that  before  he  died  some 
faithful  work  might  yet  be  accomplished  for  those 
who  should  come  after  him.  At  the  moment  of 
his  greatest  bodily  weakness,  when  fear  had  deep- 
ened into  the  conviction  that  he  had  scarcely  a  few 
weeks  to  live,  his  decision  was  made.  The  old 
plans  for  work  were  taken  out,  and  from  these  a 
new  scheme  was  rapidly  drawn  up  in  such  a  form 
that  if  strength  lasted  it  might  be  wrought  into  a 
continuous  narrative,  while  if  life  failed  some  fin- 
ished part  of  it  might  be  embodied  in  the  earlier 
"  History."  Thus,  under  the  shadow  of  death,  the 
"  Making  of  England  "  was  begun.  During  the  five 
summer  months  in  w^hich  it  was  written  that  shadow 
never  lifted.  It  was  the  opinion  of  his  doctors  that 
life  was  only  prolonged  from  day  to  day  throughout 
that  time  by  the  astonishing  force  of  his  own  will, 
by  the  constancy  of  a  resolve  that  had  wholly  set 
aside  all  personal  aims.  His  courage  took  no  touch 
of  gloom  or  disappointment ;  every  moment  of  com- 
parative ease  was  given  to  his  task ;  w^hen  such  mo- 
ments failed,  hours  of  languor  and  distress  were  given 


PREFACE.  ^jj 

with  the  same  unfaltering  patience.  As  he  lay 
worn  with  sickness,  in  his  extreme  weakness  unable 
to  write  a  line  with  his  own  hand,  he  was  forced  for 
the  first  time  to  learn  how  to  dictate ;  he  had  not 
even  strength  himself  to  mark  the  corrections  on 
his  printer's  proofs,  and  these,  too,  were  dictated 
by  him,  while  the  references  -  for  the  volume  were 
drawn  up  as  books  were  carried  one  by  one  to  his 
bedside,  and  the  notes  from  them  entered  by  his 
directions.  With  such  sustained  zeal,  such  eager 
conscientiousness  was  his  work  done  that  much 
of  it  was  wholly  rewritten  five  times,  other  parts 
three  times ;  till  as  autumn  drew  on  he  was  driven 
from  England,  and  it  became  needful  to  bring  the 
book  rapidly  to  an  end  which  fell  short  of  his  orig- 
inal scheme,  and  to  close  the  last  chapters  with  less 
finish  and  fulness  of  labor. 

The  spring  of  1882  found  the  same  frail  and  suf- 
fering life  still  left  to  him.  But  sickness  had  no 
force  to  quench  the  ardor  of  his  spirit.  Careful 
only  to  save  what  time  might  yet  remain  for  his 
work,  he  hastened  to  England  in  May,  and  once 
more  all  sense  of  weakness  seemed  to  vanish  before 
the  joy  of  coming  again  to  his  own  land.  He  had 
long  eagerly  desired  to  press  forward  to  later  pe- 
riods of  English  history,  in  which  the  more  varied 
forces  at  work  in  the  national  life,  and  the  larger 
issues  that  hung  on  them,  might  give  free  play  to 
his  own  personal  sympathies.  But  the  conditions 
of  his  life  shut  out  the  possibility  of  choice ;  and  he 


viii  PREFACE. 

resolutely  turned  again  to  the  interrupted  history 
of  eaHy  England,  to  take  up  the  tale  at  the  period 
of  its  greatest  obscurity  and  difficulty.  In  the 
scheme  which  was  drawn  up  at  this  time  the  pres- 
ent volume  was  to  have  closed  with  the  "  Conquest 
of  England  "  by  the  Danes.  This  plan  was,  in  fact, 
a  return  to  the  division  adopted  in  the  "  Short  His- 
tory of  the  English  People,"  where  the  conquest  by 
Swein  was  looked  on  as  the  turning-point  of  the 
story,  and  a  new  period  in  the  history  of  England 
began  from  the  time  when  the  English  people  first 
bowed  to  the  yoke  of  foreign  masters,  and  "  kings 
from  Denmark  were  succeeded  by  kings  from  Nor- 
mandy, and  these  by  kings  from  Anjou."  The 
eight  chapters  which  bring  the  narrative  to  the 
Danish  Conquest  form  the  work  that  filled  the  last 
months  of  his  life — a  work  still  carried  on  with  the 
same  patient  and  enduring  force,  and  done  with 
that  careful  haste  which  comes  of  the  knowledge 
that  each  month's  toil  may  be  the  last.  The  book 
in  this  earlier  form  was  finished  and  printed  in  the 
autumn,  though  in  the  pressing  peril  of  the  time  the 
final  chapters  were  so  brief  as  to  be  scarcely  more 
than  outlines.  Once  more  he  was  forced*  to  leave 
England  for  the  south.  In  spite  of  fast-increasing 
illness,  and  oppressed  by  heavy  suffering,  he  there 
reviewed  his  whole  work  with  earnest  care.  It 
seemed  to  him  still  far  from  his  conception  of  what 
it  might  be;  the  difficulty  of  the  subject  roused  in 
him  a  fresh  desire  to  bring  it  home  with  living  in- 


PREFACE.  Jx 

terest  to  his  readers ;  and  he  believed  this  might  be 
done  by  some  added  labor  on  his  part.  He  re- 
solved to  make  important  changes  in  the  original 
plan  and  in  its  order,  to  rewrite  some  portions,  and 
to  extend  the  history  beyond  the  Conquest  of  Eng- 
land by  the  Danes  to  its  Conquest  by  the  Normans. 
The  printed  book  was  at  once  cancelled.  With  a 
last  effort  of  supreme  ardor  and  devotion,  he  set 
himself  to  a  task  which  he  was  never  to  finish.  A 
new  opening  chapter  was  formed  by  drawing  to- 
gether the  materials  he  possessed  for  a  sketch  of 
the  English  people  at  the  opening  of  their  long 
struggle  with  the  invaders.  But  as  the  chapter 
drew  towards  its  end  his  strength  failed.  The 
pages  which  now  close  it  were  the  last  words  ever 
written  by  his  hand — words  written  one  morning  in 
haste,  for  weakness  had  already  drawn  on  so  fast 
that  when  in  weariness  he  at  last  laid  down  his  pen 
he  never  again  found  strength  even  to  read  over  the 
words  he  had  set  down. 

But  even  then  his  work  was  not  over.  In  this 
last  extremity  of  weakness  his  mind  still  turned 
constantly  to  the  story  of  his  people.  He  would 
still  hope,  night  by  night,  that  on  the  coming  day 
there  might  be  some  brief  moment  in  which  he 
could  even  yet  dictate  the  thoughts  that  were  shap- 
ing themselves  in  his  mind — some  larger  account 
of  the  history  of  the  English  shires  which  was  now 
taking  form  after  long  thinking,  or  some  completer 
view  of  the  rule  of  the  Danish  kings,  or  some  in- 


X  PREFACE. 

sight  of  a  more  sure  judgment  and  knowledge  into 
the  relations  of  the  Norman  Conquest.  Many  years 
before,  listening  to  some  light  talk  about  the  epi- 
taphs which  men  might  win,  he  had  said,  half  uncon- 
sciously, "  I  know  what  men  will  say  of  me :  '  He  died 
learning^  "  and  he  made  the  passing  word  into  a 
noble  truth.  "  So  long  as  he  lived  he  strove  to  live 
worthily."  By  patient  and  laborious  work,  by  rever- 
ence and  singleness  of  purpose,  by  a  long  self-mas- 
tery, he  had  "  earned  diligently  "  his  due  reward  in 
experience,  knowledge,  matured  wisdom,  a  wider  out- 
look, and  a  deeper  insight.  It  was  impossible  for 
him  not  to  know  that  his  powers  were  only  now 
coming  to  their  full  strength,  and  that  his  real  work 
lay  yet  before  him.  "  I  have  work  to  do  that  I  know 
is  good,"  he  said  when  he  heard  he  had  only  a  few 
days  to  live.  "  I  will  try  to  win  but  one  week  more 
to  write  some  part  of  it  down."  Another  conquest 
than  this,  however,  lay  before  him.  It  was  as  death 
drew  nearer  still  that  for  the  first  time  he  said, "  Now 
I  am  weary;  I  can  work  no  more."  Thus  he  laid 
down  with  uncomplaining  patience  the  task  he  had 
taken  up  with  unflinching  courage.  "  God  so  granted 
it  him."  In  those  last  days,  as  in  his  latest  thoughts, 
the  great  love  he  bore  his  country  was  still,  as  it  had 
ever  been,  the  true  inspiration  of  his  life.  The  sin- 
gle aim  that  guided  all  his  work  till  the  end  came 
was  the  desire  to  quicken  in  others  that  eager  sense 
which  he  himself  had  of  how  rich  the  inheritance  of 
our  fathers  is  with  the  promise  of  the  future,  and  to 


PREFACE.  xi 

bring  home  to  every  Englishman  some  part  of  the 
beauty  that  kindled  his  own  enthusiasm  in  the  story, 
whether  old  or  new,  of  the  English  People. 

A  very  few  words  will  explain  the  work  which  was 
left  to  me  by  my  husband  to  do  in  preparing  this 
volume  for  publication.  In  the  earlier  part  of  the 
book  I  have  carried  out  the  alterations  in  the  order 
of  subjects  which  had  been  decided  on  by  him,  and 
the  first  six  chapters  may  be  looked  on  as  represent- 
ing his  final  plan,  save  that  some  alterations  would 
have  been  made  in  the  first  chapter,  and  some  pas- 
sages, such  as  the  account  of  the  shires,  were  not  re- 
written as  he  had  intended.  Chapters  VII.  and  VIII. 
were  left  in  a  wholly  unfinished  state,  having  been 
laid  aside  for  consideration  and  revision.  The  ma- 
terials for  them  had  not  even  been  drawn  into  any 
consecutive  order,  and  I  am  responsible  for  the  di- 
vision and  naming  of  these  chapters,  and  in  great 
part  for  the  arrangement  of  the  subjects. 

The  closing  chapters  (IX.,  X.,  XL),  which  have 
been  included  in  the  book  according  to  Mr.  Green's 
later  plan,  stand  on  a  different  footing  from  the  rest. 
They  were  written  many  years  ago,  I  believe  in 
1875,  and  were  then  laid  aside  and  never  revised 
in  any  way.  The  materials  for  them  existed  partly 
in  a  printed  form  and  partly  in  manuscript  notes 
and  papers,  all  alike  written  some  years  ago,  and 
consisting  merely  of  very  rough  and  imperfect  frag- 
ments hastily  jotted  down  and  then  thrown  aside. 


xii  PREFACE. 

My  work  has  been  to  draw  these  various  parts  to- 
gether into  a  connected  whole;  and  in  order  to 
carry  on  the  unfinished  tale  to  the  Norman  Con- 
quest, I  have  inserted  some  pages  (pp.  547-556) 
from  the  earlier  "  History  of  the  English  People." 
These  chapters  then,  wholly  unrevised,  and  dealing 
with  the  history  of  the  eleventh  century  in  a  partial 
way  only,  and  under  some  of  its  aspects,  must  be 
looked  on  as  incomplete  outlines.  It  had  been  Mr. 
Green's  hope  to  enrich  them  by  a  careful  study  of 
the  social  history  of  England  during  this  period,  and 
an  indication  of  the  kind  of  work  that  might  have 
been  done  in  this  direction  will  be  found  in  the  pas- 
sage (pp.  419-447)  which  describes  London  and  the 
trading  towns.  This  was  part  of  his  latest  work 
last  autumn,  and  has  been  inserted  into  the  story 
of  the  reign  of  Cnut  at  his  desire. 

I  have  judged  it  best  to  print  these  closing  chap- 
ters without  any  addition  of  reference  or  notes,  save 
the  few  which  I  have  been  able  to  draw  up  from  his 
own  papers.  Those  who  have  read  the  "  Making  of 
England  "  will  understand  that  Mr.  Green  was  ac- 
customed to  base  his  views  on  wide  and  full  read- 
ing, and  I  have  been  unwilling  to  risk  any  system 
of  notes  which  must  inevitably  have  seemed  to  rest 
his  conclusions  on  a  foundation  narrower  than  that 
of  his  own  thought  and  reading.  I  have  felt  the 
less  difficulty  in  adopting  this  course  owing  to  the 
elaborate  system  of  references  for  this  period  which 
Mr.  Freeman  has  supplied  to  students. 


PREFACE.  xiii 

I  have  been  specially  careful  throughout  the  book 
to  preserve  the  exact  words  of  the  writer,  even  in 
dealing  with  the  unfinished  manuscript  notes.  The 
exceptions  to  this  rule  are  the  two  paragraphs  that 
open  Chapter  II.,  which  I  myself  added  at  his  own 
request,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  paragraph  on 
the  custom  of  the  feud  at  page  267,  which  was  left 
unfinished,  and  which  I  briefly  concluded.  The 
materials  for  the  reign  of  Cnut  were  very  imperfect, 
and  occasionally,  as  in  pages  447-450,  and  again  at 
the  close  of  the  chapter,  I  have  been  forced  to  make 
some  expansions  and  alterations  so  as  to  form  a  con- 
secutive and  intelligible  narrative.  The  character 
of  Godwine,  on  pages  519-522,  I  have  drawn  up 
from  some  rough  pencilled  jottings  on  the  margin 
of  a  paper,  using  the  exact  words  I  found,  but  shap- 
ing them  into  continuous  sentences  and  a  general 
order.  The  few  notes  which  I  have  added  through- 
out the  book  are  all  marked  as  my  own. 

Two  of  the  maps  included  in  this  volume, "  Eng- 
land at  the  Peace  of  Wedmore,"  and  "  England  Un- 
der the  Ealdormen,"  are  taken  from  rough  unrevised 
plans  made  by  Mr.  Green ;  for  the  rest  of  the  maps 
I  am  myself  responsible. 

I  cannot  close  without  a  very  earnest  expression 
of  sincere  gratitude  to  the  friends  who,  out  of  their 
generous  affection  for  his  memory,  have  helped 
me  in  my  task  with  constant  and  ready  sympathy ; 
I  have  especially  to  thank  Professor  Stubbs  for 
the    kindness    with    which    he    has    read    through 


xiv  PREFACE. 

my  work,  and  given  me  the  advantage  of  his  coun- 
sel. 

Alice  Stopford  Green. 

14  Kensington  Square,  November,  1883. 

P.  S. — I  may  perhaps  add,  that,  with  a  view  to  future  editions,  it 
had  been  Mr.  Green's  intention  to  ask  in  the  preface  to  this  volume 
for  suggestions  from  those  who  may  have  any  local  knowledge  which 
might  help  to  throw  light  on  any  points  either  in  this  book  or  in 
the  "  Making  of  England."  I  should  be  glad,  so  far  as  lay  in  my 
power,  to  carry  out  his  wishes  in  this  matter. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 
THE  ENGLAND  OF  ECGBERHT. 

PAGE 

Political  and  Social  Changes  which  Followed  the  Settlement  of  the  Eng- 
lish in  Britain i,  2 

The  Gradual  Union  of  the  Conquering  and  the  Conquered  Races  .  •  2,  3 
The  Purely  English  Form  given  to  the  New  Society        ....        3 

The  Gradual  Advance  of  Cultivation 4,5 

Illustrated  in  the  Condition  of  Dorset 5-7 

The  Changes  Brought  about  by  the  Introduction  of  Christianity     .        .     8,  9 

Its  Long  Strife  with  the  Older  Religions 9-1 1 

Its  Bringing  in  of  a  New  Social  Class      .        .        ...        .        .12 

And  of  a  Parochial  Organization 13 

Results  of  this  New  Ecclesiastical  System  on  the  Old  Organization  of 

English  Life .        .        .  I4>  15 

Influence  of  Christianity  in  the  Growth  of  Pilgrimages    .        .        .  15,16 

The  Pilgrims'  Route 17 

The  Popularity  of  Pilgrimages 18 

Influence  of  Christianity  on  Law 19 

Character  of  the  First  Written  Codes  of  Law 20,  21 

\  Influence  of  Christianity  on  Early  English  Jurisprudence  ...  21 
Early  Development  of  the  Conception  of  Public  Justice  ...  22,  23 
Origin  of  the  Judicial  Character  of  Folk-moot  and  Hundred- moot  .         23,  24 

The  Extent  of  the  Jurisdiction  of  the  "  Folk  " 23-25 

The  Limitations  Introduced  in  the  Right  of  Private  Vengeance  .  25-27 
The  Difficulties  in  Enforcing  the  "  Folks'  Justice  "  .  .  .  .  28,  29 
Causes  which  Led  to  the  Development  of  the  "Justice  of  the  King  "       29,  30 

The  King  and  his  Court 30 

The  King's  Progresses 3i»32 

Their  Influence  on  Public  Justice 32 

The  Results  of  the  Consolidation  of  Britain  into  the  Three  Kingdoms — 

In  the  Growing  Importance  of  the  King 33 

In  the  Decline  of  the  iEtheling 34 

In  the  Elevation  of  the  Thegn 34 

In  the  Loss  of  Power  of  the  Folk-moot 35 

In  the  Change  of  Character  of  the  Witenagemot        .        .         35-37 
Causes  which  Led  to  the  Overthrow  of  the  Balance  of  Power  among 

the  Three  Kingdoms 38 

B 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Internal  Condition  of  Northumbria  .        .        .        .        .        .        .  *     39, 40 

Its  Religious  and  Intellectual  Life 40,  41 

Invasion  of  the  Northmen  and  its  Results 42 

The  Apparent  Strength  of  Mercia 43 

Its  Real  Weakness 43 

The  Superiority  of  Wessex  Derived  from  the  Character  of  the  Country  44,  45 

From  the  Varied  Composition  of  the  Kingdom 45 

From  its  Administrative  Order 45,  46 

The  Character  of  Ecgberht's  Supremacy 46,47 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  WIRINGS.    829-858. 

The  First  Coming  of  the  Pirates 48,  49 

Their  Raids  on  Northumbria 49 

The  Significance  of  their  Attack 49,50 

Growth  of  the  Scandinavian  Peoples 51 

Conditions  of  their  Life 5^-53 

Character  of  their  Country 53»  54 

Their  Early  Customs  and  Religion  .   ' 55,  56 

TheWikings 56 

Their  Mode  of  Warfare 56,57 

The  Causes  of  their  Wanderings 57,  58 

The  Two  Lines  of  their  Attack  on  Europe 59 

Settlement  of  the  Northmen  in  South  Jutland 60 

Their  Attack  on  the  Franks 60 

The  Death  of  Godfrid  and  Civil  War  in  South  Jutland    .        .        .        .      6i 

Descent  of  the  Northmen  on  the  Isle  of  Sheppey 62 

Their  Descent  on  Ireland 63 

Thorgil's  Settlement  in  Ireland 64 

Its  Effect  in  Arousing  the  West  Welsh  to  Arms 64 

Effect  of  the  Pirate  Attacks  in  Arresting  the  Consolidation  of  England  .      65 

The  Political  Relations  of  Wessex  and  Kent 66 

The  Military  Resources  of  Wessex 66,  67 

Relation  of  the  Church  to  the  Frankish  Kings         .....      67 

Peculiar  Position  of  the  English  Bishops 68 

National  Character  of  the  Church 69 

Effect  upon  the  Church  of  the  Pirate  Invasion 69 

Its  Alliance  with  the  West-Saxon  Kings 70 

Death  of  Ecgberht  and  Accession  of  iEthelwulf 70 

Extension  of  the  Wiking  Settlement  in  Ireland 71 

The  Wikings  Attack  Wessex 72 

Death  of  Thorgils      .        , 72 

The  Pirates  Leave  Wessex  to  Attack  Frankland 73 

Importance  of  Kent 74 

Pirate-raids  on  East  Anglia  and  Kent    * 75 

^thelwulf's  Victory  at  Aclea 76 


CONTENTS.  xvii 


PAGE 


Pirate  Settlement  in  the  Isle  of  Sheppey         .        .        c        .        .        .  76 

iEthelvvulf's  Foreign  Policy '    .        .  76 

iEthelwulf's  Conquest  of  the  North  Welsh    Y 77 

/Ethelwulf's  Pilgrimage  to  Rome 77 

The  Franks  under  Charles  the  Bald       .        .        .        .        .        .        .  78 

^thelwulf 's  Visit  to  Charles  the  Bald,  and  his  Marriage  with  Judith    .  78 

Wessex  Rises  against  ^thehvulf 80 

^thelwulf  Retires  to  Kent  and  is  Succeeded  in  Wessex  by  ^thelbald.  80 


CHAPTER   III. 
THE  MAKING  OF  THE  DANELAW.    858-878. 

Death  of  i^thelwulf        . 8i 

^thelbald  Dies  and  is  Succeeded  by  ^thelberht 81 

Death  of  iEthelberht  and  Accession  of /Ethehed  .         ...         ,         ,81,82 

Extent  of  the  Scandinavian  Conquests 82 

The  Importance  of  Britain  to  the  Pirates 82 

First  Appearance  of  the  Danes 83 

Their  Mode  of  Warfare 84 

Attack  of  the  Danes  on  East  Anglia  under  Ivar  the  Boneless  .  .  86 
Their  Attack  on  Northumbria  and  Conquest  of  York    ....        87 

Ruin  of  the  Religious  Houses 88 

Position  of  the  Primate  of  York 89 

jEthelred  drives  the  Danes  back  from  Mercia 90,  91 

The  Danish  Conquest  of  East  Anglia  under  Ivar  and  Hubba     ^  .         .91,  92 

Martyrdom  cfEadmund  of  East  Anglia 92 

Mercia  pays  Tribute  to  the  Danes 92 

The  Danger  of  Wessex 92,  93 

The  Danish  Attack  on  Wessex 93 

y-  The  Birth  of  Alfred 94 

)(  His  Childhood 95 

*  His  Position  as  Secundarius 9^  * 

/Political  Significance  of  his  Marriage      .......        96 

Danish  Victory  at  Reading  and  Encampment  on  Ashdown    ...        97 

Importance  of  this  Position      .        ,         ,        , 98 

^tlielred's  Victory  at  Ashdown      ,        .         .        ,        ,        .        .         .  98, 99 
H  vElfred  becomes  King    •......,.,.       lop 

Alfred  buys  Peace  from  the  Danes        .......       100 

The  Danish  Conquest  of  Mercia  .,..,,..  loi 
Halfdene  Conquers  Bernicia  and  Ravages  Cumbria  and  Strathclyde  loi,  102 
The  Pirates  Gather  their  Forces  for  a  Final  Attack  on  Wessex    .        .       102 

Guthrum's  Attack  on  the  Southern  Coast 103 

iElfred  Recovers  Exeter  from  the  Danes 104 

The  Danes  Overrun  Wessex 104 

iElfred  Falls  back  behind  Selwood • .        .105 

His  Refuge  in  Athelney 105 

iElfred's  Victory  at  Edington ,        , 106 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

A.D.  PAGE 

878.         The  Peace  of  Wedmore 107 

Its  Political  Consequences      .        .        ...        .         .        .        107,  108 

Its  Effect  on  the  European  Struggle  with  the  Pirates     ....       108 

The  Importance  of  the  Danish  Settlement  in  Britain     ....       109 

$68-876.    The  Danish  Settlement  in  Northumbria iio 

Traces  in  Yorkshire  of  this  Settlement iii 

The  Northern  Trade. 113 

Traces  of  their  Settlement  in  York 114 

Their  Political  Organization  and  the  Trithings.        .        .         .       115 

877.         The  Danish  Settlement  in  iMid-Britain 115 

The  Political  Organization  in  Mid-Britain        .         .         .        116,  117 

The  Distribution  of  Settlers 117 

880.      '  The  Danish  Settlement  in  East  Anglia .118 

The  Character  of  Guthrum's  Kingdom 118 

Its  English  Institutions,  and  Adoption  of  Christianity  by  the 

Danes 119,120 

Relations  of  the  Danelaw  with  the  Scandinavian  Realms       .  .      120 

Relation  of  the  Danelaw  to  Wessex 121,122 

Real  Significance  of  the  Danish  Settlement 123 

CHAPTER   IV. 
iELFRED.    878-901. 

Results  of  the  Want  of  Political  Organization  in  the  Danelaw       .        .       124 

Danger  of  yEIfred's  Position 125,126 

78-884.    Years  of  Peace 126 

Material  and  Moral  Disorganization  in  Wessex 126 

Military  Disorganization  and  Weakness  of  the  Fyrd       ....       127 
Extinction  of  the  Free  Ceorls  aiKl  Growth  of  the  Thegns  Brought 

about  by  the  War 129 

iElfred's  Employment  of  the  Thegns  for  Military  Service      .        .        129,  130 
'   iElfred's  Reconstruction  of  the  Military  System     ....        130,131 

897.      '  His  Creation  of  a  Navy 131,132^ 

'  The  Reorganization  of  Public  Justice 132,133 

The  New  Relation  of  the  King  to  Justice 134,135 

Importance  of  English  Mercia 136 

Effect  of  the  Danish  Wars  on  the  Kingly  Houses  of  Britain  .        .         .       137 

i^Llfred  Becomes  King  of  the  Mercians 137.138 

iElfred's  Work  in  Introducing  a  Common  Law  among  the  English 

Peoples 139 

78-884.    The  Descents  of  the  Danes  on  PVankland 141 

884.         Renewal  of  the  Danish  Attack  on  England 142 

884.         The  Rising  of  East  Anglia 142 

London  Under  the  Danes  of  East  Anglia 143 

886.         Alfred  Recovers  London  from  Guthrum 144 

886.         Frith  between  yElfred  and  Guthrum 144 

The  Division  of  Essex 144,  145 


CONTENTS.  xix 

PAGE 

Importance  of  the  Recovery  of  the  Thames  Valley  and  of  London        .       146 

Upgrowth  of  a  New  National  Sentiment 147 

The  Intellectual  Ruin  Brought  about  by  the  Danish  Wars    .        .        .       148 
Importance  of  Wessex  for  the  Preservation  of  English  Civilization        .       149 

<  yElfred's  Restoration  of  Learning 150 

>f  He  Draws  Men  of  Learning  to  his  Court 151,152 

^  iElfred's  Work  in  the  Formation  of  English  Literature.         .         .        153,154 
"  English  the  First  Prose  Literature  of  the' Modern  World       .         .        -155 

"/  Alfred's  Translations I55>  156 

The  Bishop's  Roll  of  Winchester  .         . 158 

X  Alfred's. Work  on  the  Chronicle 159 

The  Historical  Importance  of  the  Chronicle 160 

Death  of  Guthrum 161 

Growth  of  the  Scandinavian  Kingdoms 162 

Harold  Fairhair 162 

Impulse  Given  to  the  Pirate  Raids 162,  163 

Renewal  of  the  Danish  Attack  on  Southern  Britain       ....       163 

Hasting  Ravages  Wessex 163 

The  Rising  of  the  Danelaw 164 

Alliance  of  the  Danes  and  the  Welsh 165 

Hasting's  Occupation  of  Chester 166 

'.    Defeat  of  the  Danes  and  Ending  of  the  War 166 

Alfred's  Life 167,  168 

His  Love  of  Strangers 168,169 

Foundation  of  Athelney 169 

Othere  and  Wulfstan 171,172 

The  Organization  of  iElfreds  Court 172,173 

The  Royal  Revenue 173,  174 

Alfred's  Connection  with  the  Continent 175 

His  Relations  with  the  Welsh 175,  176 

His  Relations  with  Bernicia  and  the  Scots 176 

Growth  of  the  Scot  Kingdom 177 

Death  of  Alfred 178 

Character  of  i^lfred 178-180 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   HOUSE   OF   yELFRED.     901-937. 

Eadward  the  Elder 181,182 

Peace  with  the  Danes 183 

Eadward  Takes  the  Title  of  "King  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  .        .       184 

The  Weakness  of  English  Mercia .        .        .       185 

Eadward  Fortifies  Chester      .        .      ^ .        .        .         .  185,  186 

Outbreak  of  War  with  the  Danes 187 

P!^adward's  Kingdom  Threatened  from  the  North  and  from  the  South  .       187 

Eadward's  Annexation  of  the  Thames  Valley 188,189 

Opening  of  War  with  East  Anglia 189 


XX  CONTENTS. 

A.D.  PAGE 

Eadward's  Conquest  of  Southern  Essex. 189 

^thelflaed  Seizes  the  Line  of  the  Watling  Street 190 

The  Watling  Street 190,  191 

913.  ^thelflaed's  Advance  on  the  Upper  Trent 192 

.-Ethelflaed  Secures  the  Line  of  the  Avon 193 

018,919.    Eadward's  Advance  on  the  Ouse I94.  ^95 

921.  He  Conquers  Northampton 196 

921,  922.    He  Completes  the  Conquest  of  East  Anglia,  Essex,  and  the  Fens  .        196,  197 
917, 91S.    ^thelflaed  Attacks  the  Five  Boroughs 197.198 

922.  Death  of  i^thelflaed. 198 

922.         Eadward  Completes  the  Conquest  of  Mid-Britain 199 

Mercia  Made  Part  of  the  West-Saxon  Kingdom 200 

Political  Results  of  the  Conquest  of  the  Danelaw  .  .        .       200,201 

The  Growth  of  Commendation 201,202 

Growth  of  the  New  Territorial  Character  of  the  Kingship  .        .       202 

Importance  of  the  Oath  of  Allegiance 203 

Danger  of  Eadward's  Position 204 

His  Fortification  of  the  Northwest  Frontier 205,  206 

Relation  of  Wessex  to  Bernicia  and  the  Kingdom  of  the  Scots     .        .      206 
924.         The  Northern  League  against  Eadward 207 

924.  Submission  of  the  North  to  Eadward 208 

925.  itthelstan  Become§_King 209 

His  Policy 210 

925.  Submission  of  the  Northern  League  to  itthelstan  .  .  .  .  .211 
Submission  of  the  Welsh 211,212 

026.  /Ethelstan  Becomes  King  of  Northumbria 212 

Fusion  of  Dalies  and  Englishmen 213 

Character  of  ^thelstan's  Witenagemots 213-215 

The  Work  of  the  Witenagemots  for  Public  Order.         .        .        .        216,  217 

The  Regulation  of  Trade  and  of  Coinage 218 

The  Origin  of  Frith-gilds 219,220 

Use  of  the  Word  "Shire" 221,222 

West-Saxon  Origin  of  the  Shire 222,223 

The  Early  Extension  of  the  Shire  System  in  Wcsscx     ....      224 

The  Extension  of  the  Shire  over  Mercia 225,226 

The  Extension  of  the  Shire  over  the  Danelaw        ....        227,  228 

The  Position  of  the  Shire-reeve 229 

Importance  of  his  Financial  Work 229,230 

Growth  of  his  Authority 230 

The  Imperial  Claims  of  yEthelstan 231,232 

The  Real  Weakness  of  his  Empire 232 

Danger  from  the  Northmen  of  Ireland 232,  233 

Danger  from  the  Northmen  of  Gaul 233 

912.  Hrolf's  Settlement  in  Gaul 234 

The  Results  of  this  Settlement  on  France  and  on  England    .        .       234,235 

Relations  of  the  Danelaw  and  Normandy 235,236 

The  Growth  of  the  Norman  Duchy 236,  237 

The  Effect  on  the  Foreign  Policy  of  the  English  Kings .        .        .       238,  239 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

PAGE 

^thelstan's  Alliances  with  Foreign  Powers 239,  240 

The  Dangers  which  Threatened  William  Longsword    .         .        .       240,  241 

His  Successful  Alliance  with  the  House  of  Paris 241 

Results  of  his  Policy  Seen  in  the  Renewal  of  the  Northern  League 

against  ^thelstan 242 

The  Significance  of  the  League 243 

The  Battle  of  Brunanburh 243,  244 


CHAPTER   VI. 
W ESSEX  AND  THE  DANELAW.    937-955. 

Political  Consequences  of  the  Battle  of  Brunanburh       ....      245 

Restoration  of  the  Northumbrian  Under-kingship 246 

The  Weakness  of  the  Monarchy 246,  247 

Political  Reorganization  of  Britain .      247 

Position  of  the  Ealdormen 248,  249 

The  Ealdormanries  of  East  Anglia  and  Essex        ....        249,250 

Eric  Bloody- a^e 251,252 

yEthelstan  Sets  Eric  as  King  in  Northunibria 252 

^thelstan  Continues  his  Former  Policy  with  Regard  to  Normandy      .      253 

Lewis  from  over-sea  King  of  the  West  Franks 254 

The  Support  given  to  him  by  iEthelstan 254,  255 

The    Difficulties    of   Lewis    and    Failure    of  iEthelstan's    Political 

Schemes 255,256 

Death  of  yEthelstan  and  Accession  of  Eadmund    ....       257,  258 

Eadmund's  Policy 257,  258 

The  Revolt  of  the  Danelaw    .        . 259 

The  Position  of  Wulfstan  of  York 260 

The  Revival  of  the  English  Danelaw 261 

Growth  of  the  Norman  Power 261 

Invasion  of  Normandy  by  Lewis 262 

Reduction  of  the  Danelaw  by  Eadmund 262 

Political  Relations  of  Eadmund  with  the  North      ....       262,  263 
Cumbria  Under  the  Northumbrian  and  West- Saxon  Kings  .        .       264,  265 

Norwegian  Settlements  in  Cumbria 265 

The  Grant  of  Cumbria  to  the  Scottish  Kings 266 

Eadmund's  Reform  of  the  Custom  of  the  Feud 267 

Normandy  Freed  from  the  West  Franks 268 

Death  of  Eadmund 269 

The  Childhood  and  Youth  of  Dunstan 270-272 

He  Becomes  a  Monk 272 

He  is  Made  Abbot  of  Glastonbury 274 

Eadred  Becomes  King 274 

Dunstan  Becomes  Counsellor  to  Eadred 275 

Significance  of  Eadred's  Coronation       .        .         .        .        .        .        275, 276 

Submission  of  the  North  to  Eadred 277 

The  Rising  of  Northumbria  Under  Eric  Hiring 278 


xxii  CONTENTS. 

A.D.  PAGB 

948.         Eaclred  Ravages  Northumbria  and  Eric  is  Driven  Out .        .        .         .       279 

949-952.    Olaf,  Sihtric's  Son,  Rules  in  Northumbria 279 

954.  Final  Submission  of  the  Danelaw 280,281 

954.  Northumbria  Made  into  an  Earldom 281 

Dunstan's  School  at  Glastonbury    . 282,  283 

955.  /^ithelvvoid's  School  at  Abingdon 283 

Their  Influence  on  English  Literature 284,  285 

Eadred  Claims  Imperial  Supremacy  over  the  Whole  of  Britain     .       286,  287 

955.         Eadred's  Death 288 


.  CHAPTER   VII. 
THE  GREAT  EALDORMEN.    955-978. 

Changes  in  the  Political  State  of  England 289,  290 

Growth  of  the  Royal  Power 290,291 

Its  Weakness 291 

Position  of  the  Ealdormen 292 

Limitations  to  their  Power 293 

955.  Accession  of  Eadwig 293 

Strife  of  the  Three  Political  Parties  in  the  Realm  ....       294,  295 

956.  Coronation  of  Eadwig 295,296 

956.         Exile  of  Dunstan 296 

956.  i^lf  here  Made  Ealdorman  of  Mercia 297 

The  Significance  of  this  Step 297 

957.  Eadwig's  Marriage  to  ^Elfgifu 298 

957,958.    The  Revolt  against  Eadwig  and  Division  of  the  Kingdom     .        .        299-301 

958.  Eadgar  Made  King  of  the  Mercians,  and  Return  of  Dunstan  .        .         .301 

959.  Death  of  Eadwig  and  Accession  of  Eadgar 302 

Creation  of  Two  West-Saxon  Ealdormanries 302,303 

959.         Dunstan,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 304 

The  Union  of  the  King  and  the  Primate  in  the  Government  of  the 

Realm 304, 305 

Character  of  Eadgar 306, 307 

The  Peace  and  Order  of  his  Government 308,  309 

Relations  of  England  with  the  Surrounding  States.        .        .        .       309,310 

Eadgar's  Relations  to  the  Danelaw 310,311 

His  Policy  towards  the  Danish  Settlers 312-314 

The  Industrial  Condition  of  England 315.316 

Customary  Rents  and  Payment  of  Labor 316,317 

Instances  of  Hurstbourn  and  Dyddenham 317,318 

The  Rural  Society  as  Shown  in  the  Manor  of  Cranborne       .        .       318,  319 

The  Class  of  Slaves 319 

The  Protection  Given  them  by  the  Church 320,321 

The  Inland  Trade  of  the  Country 321,322 

The  "Chapman" 323,324 

The  Gleeman 324 

The  Revival  of  Literature  under  Dunstan 325 


CONTENTS.  xxiii 

PAGE 

His  Revival  of  Historical  Learning.        . 326 

Historical  School  of  Worcester 326,  327 

The  Decline  of  Monasticism  during  the  Danish  Wars    ....       328 

Its  Revival  in  Middle  and  Southern  England 329-331 

The  Influence  of  the  Secular  Clergy .        .332 

The  Political  Position  of  the  Bishops 332,333 

Eadgar  and  the  Ealdormen 333>  334 

The  Rule  of  Eadgar 334,  335 

His  Coronation 336 

His  Death 337 

Disputed  Succession  to  the  Crown 337.338 

Eadvvard  the  Martyr        ..........      338 

Growth  of  the  Contest  between  the  Nobles  and  the  Crown    .        .        .      339 

Murder  of  Ead ward 340 

Accession  of  ^thelred  II 34i»  342 

Death  of  Dunstan .      343 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
THE  DANISH  CONQUEST.    988-1016. 

The  Breaking-up  of  the  Old  Social  Organization  of  the  English    .       344-346' 
The  Creation  of  the  Danish  Monarchy  under  Gorm  the  Old.        .       346-348 

Its  Extension  under  Harald  Bluetooth 348,  349 

Decline  of  his  Power 349.  35° 

His  Death  and  the  Accession  of  Swein 351 

Swein's  Burial -feast  for  Harald 352,  353 

Swein,  Driven  from  Denmark,  Becomes  a  Wiking 353 

New  Pirate  Raids  on  England 354 

Battle  of  Maldon      . 354 

Character  of  ^thelred  the  Unraedig 355.  35^ 

iEthelred's  Policy  towards  the  Ealdormen      .         .  '      .        .        .       356, 357 

The  Dangers  which  Threatened  England 358,  359 

yEthelred's  Treaties  with  the  Norwegian  Host  and  with  Normandy      .      360 
Breach  of  the  Peace  between  English  and  Norwegians  .        .        .       361,  362 

Olaf  Tryggvason 363 

The  Union  of  Olaf  and  Swein  in  an  Attack  on  England        .         .        .      364 
Their  League  is  Broken  up  by  the  English  Policy  ....       364,  365 

Renewed  Attacks  of  the  Pirates 366 

iEthelred's  Vigorous  Measures  of  Defence      ......      367 

c.  1000.     Swein  Recovers  his  Danish  Kingdom     .         ......      368 

Death  of  Olaf 369,  370 

1002.        .^ithelred's  Alliance  with  the  Normans 370 

Character  of  the  Norman  Duchy 371 

The  Difficulties  that  Threatened  it  from  Without  and  Within       .       371,  372 
The  Policy  of  its  Dukes 372,373 

43-996.     Condition  of  Normandy  under  Richard  the  Fearless      .         .        .       373.374 

96-1026.    The  Reign  of  Richard  the  Good •        •        •      375 


xxiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Importance  of  the  English  Alliance  with  Normandy  ....      376 
Strife  between  ^thelred  and  his  Nobles      .        .        .        .        .       378, 379 

The  Massacre  of  St.  Brice's  Day 380 

Swein  again  Attacks  Wessex       .        . 380 

And  East  Anglia 381 

Continued  Strife  among  the  Ministers  of -^thelred      ....      382 

Changes  among  the  Ealdormen 382 

The  High-reeve  Eadric 383, 384 

Pirate  Raids  on  Wessex 384 

/Ethelred's  Internal  Reforms .      385 

His  Military  and  Naval  Reforms 386 

The  Revenue  of  the  Crown 387,  388 

National  Taxation 389 

Fresh  Attack  of  the  Danes  under  Thurkill 390-392 

The  Danish  Fleet  Bought  off  by  Tribute 392 

The  Great  Invasion  under  Swein 393 

His  Conquest  of  England 394 

The  Flight  of  ^thelred  and  its  Results 395 

The  Death  of  Swein 395 

Cnut  Chosen  King  by  the  Danish  Host 396 

His  Attack  on  England 397 

Political  Strife  in  England,  and  Treachery  of  Eadric  .  .       397,  398 

Death  of  ^Ethelred  and  Accession  of  Eadmund  Ironside    .        .        .      399 

Cnut's  Siege  of  London 399 

The  Battle  of  Assandun  and  Division  of  England       ,        .        .       400,401 
Death  of  Eadmund  Ironside 401 


CHAPTER   IX. 
THE  REIGN  OF  CNUT.     1016-1035: 

Cnnt  King  of  England .     *  .        . 402 

His  Measures  for  the  Settlement  of  the  Realm 403 

His  Marriage  with  Emma 4^4 

The  Character  of  the  Danish  Conquest 404>  4^5 

Modified  by  the  Political  Condition  of  England 405 

And  of  Scandinavia 406 

Results  of  the  Conquest 406,  407 

Character  of  Cnut's  Rule 407.  4o8 

His  Government  According  to  National  Laws  and  Custom  .       409 

The  Rise  of  Godwine 410 

The  Local  Organization  of  the  Realm  under  Cnut      .         .         .        410,411 
His  Development  of  the  Administrative  System.        .        .         .       411,412 

His  Institution  of  the  Royal  Chapel     .        ^ 4^3 

His  Maintenance  of  the  Land-tax 4^4 

His  Military  System 4I4.  4^5 

His  Policy  towards  the  Church 415,416 

His  Temper  towards  England 415,416 


CONTENTS.  XX^ 

PAGE 

The  Peace  of  his  Reign .j^ 

His  Conception  of  Government ^j3 

Development  of  English  Trade 410 

Growth  of  Oxford 419-421 

Nottingham 421,422 

Gloucester  and  Worcester .        ,       ^22, 423 

The  Seaports.     Chester 423-426 

Bristol 426,427 

The  Ports  of  the  Southern  Coast 427,428 

The  Trade  of  the  Eastern  Coast 429,430 

The  Ports  of  the  East  Coast 430-432 

York 432-434 

Early  London 434^  435 

Conditions  of  the  English  Settlement  there         ....       435,  436 

Settlement  round  St.  Paul's 436,  437 

First  Settlement  of  the  "  Cheap "        .        .        .        ,        .        .       438,439 

The  "East-Cheap" ,        .        .440 

Growth  of  London  under  the  West-Saxon  Rule  ....       441,  442 

Its  Early  Municipal  Life 442,443 

Extension  of  London  to  the  Northward 443 

Growth  of  its  Trade  under  Eadgar 444,  445 

Extension  of  Eastern  London 445,  446 

Importance  of  London  under  Cnut 447 

Cnut's  Foreign  Policy 448 

His  Pilgrimage  to  Rome 449 

His  Conquest  of  Norway 450 

His  Policy  towards  the  Scot  Kings .      450 

Relations  of  the  Scot  Kings  with  the  House  of  vEIfred  .  .  451,452 
The  Political  Arrangement  between  Cnut  and  Malcolm  .  .  .  452 
Lothian  Becomes  Part  of  the  Scottish  Realm  ....  452,  453 
The  Danger  which  Threatened  Cnut  from  Normandy.  .  .  .  454 
State  of  Normandy  under  Robert  the  Devil         ....       455,  456 

Birth  of  William  the  Conqueror 457 

He  Becomes  Duke  of  Normandy 457 

fieath  of  Cnuf      I        T" .        .458 

The  Break-up  of  his  Empire 458,  459 


CHAPTER  X. 
THE   HOUSE  OF  GODWINE.     1035-1053. 

The  Policy  of  Cnut  Carried  on  by  Godwine 460 

Godwine's  Support  of  Harthacnut  in  Wessex 461 

Harald  Harefoot  Chosen  King  at  Oxford    .         .        .        .        .         .      462 

The  Division  of  England 462,  463 

The  Murder  of  the  iEtheling  iElfred 464 

Its  Results 464.  465 

Death  of  Harald  Harefoot .        •        .      466 


xxvi  CONTENTS. 

A.D.  PAGE 

040-1042.    Reign  of  liarthacnut 466,467 

1042.  The  i^itheling  Eadvvard  Summoned  to  England 467 

1043.  His  Coronation '      .      468 

The  Position  of  Godwine 469,  470 

The  State  of  Normandy  under  Duke  William       ....       470,471 

Character  of  William 472 

The  Norman  Sympathies  of  Eadvvard  the  Confessor     ....      473 

The  State  of  England  at  his  Accession 474,  475 

The  Earldom  of  Northumbria 476-478 

The  Earldom  of  Mercia 479 

The  Earldom  of  Wessex 480 

1045.  The  Supremacy  of  Earl  Godwine 480,481 

The  Jealousies  Aroused  by  it 482 

1046.  The  Outlawry  of  Svvein 483 

1047.  Opposition  to  Godwine's  Policy  towards  Scandinavia  .         .        .       483,484 

Effect  of  Normandy  on  English  Politics 484 

Lanfranc 485, 486 

104T.    ^  ^Revolt  against  William  in  Normandy 486,487 

William's  Victory  at  Val-es-Dunes 488 

His  Mastery  of  Normandy 488 

Relations  of  the  French  Kings  to  Normandy  and  Anjou       .        .        .      489 

1048.  William's  Alliance  with  France  against  Anjou 490 

Results  of  William's  Victories  on  the   Course  of  Events   in   Eng- 
land and  on  its  Relations  with  Foreign  States       .        .         .       490,  491 

Flanders 491,492 

Its  Commercial  and  Political  Importance 493,  494 

The  Empire 494,  495 

Its  Relations  with  the  New  Religious  Movement.        .        .        .  495,  496 

Its  Alliance  with  the  Papacy 496,  497 

1049.  The  Rising  of  Lower  Lorraine,  Holland,  and  Flanders.        .         .  .      497 
•^William's  Attempt  to  Form  an  Alliance  with  Flanders        .         .  497,  498 

Traditional  Policy  of  Alliance  between  England  and  Flanders     .       498,  499 

Its  Maintenance  by  Godwine 499 

His  Precautions  against  William's  Policy 500 

1049.  The  Council  of  Rheims 500,501 

Its  Political  Significance 501 

The  Norman  Alliance  with  Flanders  Broken  off  .         .        .        .        502,  503 

1050.  The  Alliance  of  Flanders  Secured  for  England    ....        503,504 

1050.  Swein  Restored  to  his  English  Earldom 505 

Strife  between  Eadward  and  Godwine  about  the  Primacy    .        .        505.  506 

1051.  Robert  of  Jumieges  Made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury    ....       506 
Widening  of  the  Quarrel  between  Godwine  and  the  King    .        .         .       507 

1051.        The  Outbreak  of  Open  Strife 508 

Siward  and  Leofric  Support  the  King 508,  509 

1051.         The  Flight  and  Outlawry  of  Godwine 510 

Godwine  and  his  Sons  Take  Refuge  in  Flanders  and  Ireland  .  .  510 
Results  in  England  of  his  Flight 51 1 

1051.        The  Visit  of  William  the  Norman 512 


CONTENTS.  XXvii 

PAGE 

Godwine's  Position  in  Flanders •        •      5^3 

The  Return  of  Godwine 514-516 

The  Meeting  with  the  King  at  London 516 

The  Restoration  of  Godwine  and  his  House 516,517 

The  Position  Maintained  by  the  King 517 

The  Position  of  Siward  and  Leofric 518 

Godwine  and  the  Primacy 519 

Stigand  Replaces  Robert  as  Archbishop 519 

The  Character  of  Godwine 520-522 

Note  on  the  Growth  of  the  Royal  Administration.        .        .        .       523-528 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST.     1053-1071. 

The  Attitiiflp  nf  William  of  Normandy 529,  530 

He  Carries  out  his_Scheme  of  Alliance  with  Flanders.  .  .  530,531 
Thje  0ifficujties_w_hich  FoUowedliis  !Marria^e  with  Matilda.  .  53i>  532 
His  Victory  at  Mortenier       .        .        [        T — — r —    .        .        .       532, 533 

Death  of  Godwine 534 

Harold  becomes  Earl  of  Wessex 534 

His  Character 535 

His  Policy  towards  the  Crown 536 

And  towards  the  Rival  Earls 537 

vSiward  and  the  Scot  Kings 538,  539 

Death  of  Siward 539 

Tostig  Made  Earl  of  Norlhumbria       . .        .        .     •    .        ,        .        .      540 

Significance  of  this  Step .       540-543 

Alliance  between  the  House  of  Leofric  and  Wales        .         .        .        -543 

Settlement  of  the  Earldoms  under  Harold 544 

Death  of  the  ittheling  Eadward 545 

The  Growth  of  Harold's  Ambition 546 

His  Election  as  King  Met  by  the  Claims  of  William  ....  547 
The  Norwegian  Invasion  and  Battle  of  Stamford  Bridge     .        .       548,  549 

The  Norman  Invasion  and  Battle  of  Senlac 549-551 

Coronation  of  William ,         .         .         .       552 

Rising  against  William 553 

National  Revolt  of  the  English 554 

The  Close  of  the  Conquest 555>  55^ 

Note  on  Archbishop  Stigand 557-5^0 

Note  on  the  Character  of  Harold 561-563 


PORTRAIT 

Engraved  by  G.  J.  STODARxyr^w  a  chalk  draioiughy  F.  Sandys. 


LIST  OF  MAPS. 

I.  England,  1883 To  face  page  i 

II.  Lines  of  Northern  Invasions         ....           "        "  60 

III.  England  at  the  Treaty  of  Wedniore    ...           "        "  108 

IV.  The  Campaigns  of  Eadward  and  iEthelflaed        .           ♦'        "  188 
V.  England  under  the  Ealdormen      ....           •«        «.  ^q2 

VI.  Early  Oxford 420 

VII.  Early  Chester 424 

VIII.  Early  York 433 

IX.  Early  London To  face  page  437 


'university; 


ENG^LAJ^^D,  1883. 


6  LQug;iuitlfi"We«r  4:  ^tom  GreenwictL         2 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND, 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    ENGLAND   OF   ECGBERHT. 

Few  periods  of  our  history  seem  drearier  and  more  Sodai 
unprofitable  to  one  who  follows  the  mere  course  of  '^Brtiain. 
political  events  than  the  two  hundred  years  which 
close  with  the  submission  of  the  English  states  to 
Ecgberht.'  The  petty  and  ineffectual  strife  of  the 
Three  Kingdoms,  Northumbria,  Mercia,  and  Wessex, 
presents  few  features  of  human  interest,  while  we  are 
without  the  means  of  explaining  the  sudden  revolu- 
tions which  raise  and  depress  their  power,  or  their 
final  subsidence  into  isolation  and  inaction.  It  is 
only  when  we  view  it  from  within  that  we  see  the 
importance  of  the  time.  It  was,  in  fact,  an  age  of 
revolution — an  age  in  which  mighty  changes  were 
passing  over  every  phase  of  the  life  of  Englishmen ; 
an  age  in  which  heathendom  was  passing  into 
Christianity,  the  tribal  king  into  the  national  ruler, 
the  cctheling  into  the  thegn ;  an  age  in  which  Eng- 

*  See  Making  of  England,  chap.  viii. — (A.  S.  G.) 
I 


2         THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  lish  society  saw  the  beginnings  of  the  change  which 
The  transformed  the  noble  into  a  lord,  and  the  free  ceorl 
Ecgherht.  into  a  dependent  or  a  serf ;  an  age  in  which  new 
moral  conceptions  told  on  the  fabric  of  our  early 
jurisprudence,  and  in  which  custom  began  to  harden 
into  written  law.  Without,  the  new  England  again 
became  a  member  of  the  European  commonwealth ; 
while  within,  the  very  springs  of  national  life  were 
touched  by  the  mingling  of  new  blood  with  the  blood 
of  the  nation  itself. 

^^'oH/T''  ^^^  ethnological  character  of  the  country  had,  in 
/^/;//a//t7;/.  fact,  changed  since  the  close  of  the  age  of  conquest. 
The  area  of  the  ground  subject  to  English  rule  was 
far  greater  than  in  the  days  of  Ceawlin  or  i^thel- 
frith,  but  in  the  character  of  its  population  the  por- 
tion added  was  very  different  from  the  earlier  area ; 
for  while  the  Britons  had  been  wholly  driven  off 
from  the  eastern  half  of  the  island,  in  the  western 
part  they  remained  as  subjects  of  the  conquerors. 
It  was  thus  that  in  Ecgberht's  day  Britain  had  come 
to  consist  of  three  long  belts  of  country,  two  of  which 
stretched  side  by  side  from  the  utmost  north  to  the 
utmost  south,  and  the  population  of  each  of  which 
was  absolutely  diverse.  Between  the  eastern  coast 
and  a  line  which  we  may  draw  along  the  Selkirk 
and  Yorkshire  moorlands  to  the  Cotswolds  and  Sel- 
wood,  lay  a  people  of  wholly  English  blood.  West- 
ward again  of  the  Tamar,  of  the  western  hills  of 
Herefordshire,  and  of  Offa's  Dyke,  lay  a  people 
whose  blood  was  wholly  Celtic.  Between  them, 
from  the  Lune  to  the  coast  of  Dorset  and  Devon, 
ran  the  lands  of  the  Wealhcyn — of  folks,  that  is,  in 
whose  veins  British  and  English  blood  were  already 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.         ^ 

blending  together  and  presaging  in  their  mingling  chap.  i. 
a  wider  blending  of  these  elements  in  the  nation  as     The 
a  whole.  E^Sf 

The  winning  of  Western  Britain  opened,  in  fact, 
a  way  to  that  addition  of  outer  elements  to  the  pure    .  ^-^^^   , 

T^        T    1  11*11  c  1  mixture  of 

English  stock  which  has  gone  on  from  that  day  to  race. 
this  without  a  break.  Celt  and  Gael,  Welshman  and 
Irishman,  Frisian  and  Flamand,  French  Huguenot 
and  German  Palatine,  have  come  successively  in, 
with  a  hundred  smaller  streams  of  foreign  blood. 
The  intermingling  of  races  has  nowhere  been  less 
hindered  by  national  antipathy ;  and  even  the  hin- 
drances interposed  by  law,  such  as  Offa's  prohibition 
of  marriage  between  English  and  Welsh,  or  Edward 
III.'s  prohibition  of  marriage  between  English  and 
Irish,  have  met  with  the  same  disregard.  The  result 
is,  that,  so  far  as  blood  goes,  few  nations  are  of  an 
origin  more  mixed  than  the  present  English  nation; 
for  there  is  no  living  Englishman  who  can  say  with 
certainty  that  the  blood  of  any  of  the  races  we  have 
named  does  not  mingle  in  his  veins.  As  regards 
the  political  or  social  structure  of  the  people,  indeed, 
this  intermingling  of  blood  has  had  little  or  no  re- 
sult. They  remain  purely  English  and  Teutonic. 
The  firm  English  groundwork  which  had  been  laid 
by  the  character  of  the  early  conquest  has  never 
been  disturbed.  Gathered  gradually  in,  tribe  by 
tribe,  fugitive  by  fugitive,  these  outer  elements  were 
quietly  absorbed  into  a  people  whose  social  and 
political  form  was  already  fixed.  But  though  it 
would  be  hard  to  distinguish  the  changes  wrought 
by  the  mixture  of  race  from  the  changes  wrought  by 
the  lapse  of  time  and  the  different  circumstances 


4         THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  which  surround  each  generation,  there  can  be  no 
The  doubt  that  it  has  brought  with  it  moral  results  in 
^Ibertt' "modifying  the  character  of  the  nation.  It  is  not 
without  significance  that  the  highest  type  of  the 
race,  the  one  Englishman  who  has  combined  in 
their  largest  measure  the  mobility  and  fancy  of  the 
Celt  with  the  depth  and  energy  of  the  Teutonic  tem- 
per, was  born  on  the  old  Welsh  and  English  border- 
land, in  the  forest  of  Arden. 
^^'0^?!^^  Side  by  side  with  this  change  in  the  character  of 
country,  its  populatiou  had  gone  on  a  change  in  the  character 
of  the  country  itself.  Its  outer  appearance,  indeed, 
still  remained  much  the  same  as  in  earlier  days. 
Not  half  its  soil  had  as  yet  been  brought  under 
tillage ;  as  the  traveller  passed  along  its  roads,  vast 
reaches  of  forest,  of  moor,  of  fen,  formed  the  main 
landscape  before  him ;  even  the  open  and  tilled  dis- 
tricts were  broken  everywhere  by  woods  and  thickets 
which  the  farmer  needed  for  his  homestead,  for  his 
fences,  for  his  house-building,  and  his  fire.  But  lim- 
ited as  was  its  cultivation,  Britain  was  no  longer  the 
mere  sheet  of  woodland  and  waste  which  the  English 
had  found  it.  Population  had  increased,*  and  four 
hundred  years  of  labor  had  done  their  work  in  widen- 
ing the  clearings  and  thinning  the  woods.  We  have 
already  caught  glimpses  of  such  a  work  in  the  moor- 
lands of  the  North,  in  the  fens  of  the  Wash,  in  the 
thickets  of  Arden,  as  the  monk  carried  his  axe  into 
the  forest,  or  the  thegn  planted  tillers  over  the  grants 
that  had  been  carved  for  him  out  of  the  waste  "  folk- 
land."     The  study  of  such  a  tract  as  the  Andreds- 

1  Lingard  (Ang.-Sax.  Church',  i.  185)  infers  this  from  the  new  up- 
growth of  churches. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.         ^ 

weald  would  show  the  same  ceaseless  struggle  with  chap.  r. 
nature — Sussex-men  and  Surrey-men  mounting  over     The 
the  South-downs  and  the  North-downs  to  hew  their ^|bertit^ 
way  forward  to  the  future  meeting  of  their  shire- 
bounds  in  the  heart  of  the  Weald,  while  the  vast 
herds  of  swine  that  formed  the  advance  guard  of 
the  Cantwara,  who  were  cleaving  their  way  westward 
along  the  Medway,  pushed  into  the  "  dens"  or  glades 
in  the  woodland  beyond. 

We  can  see  the  general  results  of  this  industrial  Dorset 
warfare  in  a  single  district,  such  as  Dorset.  When 
the  English  landed  in  Britain  no  tract  was  wilder 
or  less  civilized;  its  dense  forest -reaches,  in  fact, 
checked  the  westward  advance  of  the  conquerors, 
and  forced  them  to  make  their  way  slowly  along  the 
coast  from  the  Stour  to  the  Exe.  Even  when  the 
Dorsaetan  were  fairly  settled  there,  the  names  of 
their  hundreds  and  of  the  trysting-places  of  their 
courts  show  the  wild  state  of  the  land.  The  hun- 
dred-moots gather  at  barrow  or  den,  at  burn  or  ford, 
in  comb  or  vale,  in  glade  or  woodland,  here  beside 
some  huge  boulder  or  stone,  there  on  the  line  of  a 
primeval  foss-dyke,  or  beneath  some  mighty  and 
sacred  tree.'  But  even  its  hundred  names  show  how 
soon  the  winning  of  the  land  began.  Dorchester 
tells  of  the  new  life  growing  up  on  the  Roman  ruins; 

'  For  barrow-trysts,  cf.  Albretesberga  (afterwards  Cranbourne), 
Badbury,  Modbury,  Langeberga,  Chalbury,  Hunesberga ;  for  "  duns," 
Canendon  (Wimbourne),  Faringdon,  Glochresdon ;  for  boulders, 
Stane  (Cerne  Abbas),  Golderonestone,  some  monolith  by  Burton 
Bradstock ;  for  trees,  Cuferdstroue,  a  tree  on  Culliford  Barrow  in 
Whitcomb  parish ;  for  foss,  Concresdic  or  Combsditch ;  for  glade, 
comb,  burn,  ford,  wood,  Cocden,  Uggescomb,  Sherborne,  Tollerford, 
Ayleswood. 


6         THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiAP.  I.  Knolton  and  Gilllngham  of  the  new  "  tons "  and 
The     "  hams  "  which  rose  about  the  settlements  of  the  con- 

Ecgberht  querors ;  while  Beaminster,  Yetminster,  and  Christ- 
church  recall  the  work  of  the  new  Christendom  that 
settled  at  last  on  the  soil.  Nowhere,  indeed,  was  the 
industrial  work  of  the  Church  more  energetic ;  we 
have  seen  how  Ealdhelm  planted  centres  of  agri- 
culture as  well  as  of  religion  at  Sherborne  and 
Wareham,  and  if  more  than  a  third  of  the  shire  be- 
longed in  later  days  to  the  clergy,  it  was  in  the  main 
because  monk  and  priest  had  been  foremost  in  the 
reclamation  of  the  land.'  Much,  indeed,  remained 
to  be  done.  As  late  as  the  eve  of  the  Norman  con- 
quest, but  thirty  or  forty  thousand  inhabitants  were 
scattered  over  the  soil;'  the  king's  forest  -  rights 
stretched  over  wild  and  waste  throughout  half  the 
county,  and  even  in  the  parts  that  had  been  won  for 
culture,  scrub  and  brushwood  broke  the  less  fruitful 
ground,  while  relics  of  the  vanished  woodland  lin- 
gered in  the  copses  beside  every  homestead,  the 
"  pannage  woods  "  of  beech  and  oak,  and  the  "  barren 
woods "  of  other  timber  that  gave  no  mast  to  the 
swineherd. 
Its  But  in  spite  of  all,  the  work  of  civilization  had 

'  'life.  '  begun.  Little  boroughs  that,  small  as  they  were, 
already  formed  centres  of  social  and  industrial  life 
were  rising  beside  the  harbors  of  the  coast  or  clus- 
tering under  the  shelter  of  the  great  abbeys.  Even 
where   the   bulk   of   the   land   lay   waste,  pastures 

^  At  the  Conquest,  the  Bishop  was  the  largest  proprietor  in  the 
whole  shire ;  he  held,  in  fact,  a  tenth  of  it,  while  twice  as  much  was 
held  by  religious  houses  at  Shaftesbury,  Cerne,  Milton,  and  Abbots- 
bury. — Eyton,  Dorset  Domesday,  156. 

'  Eyton,  Dorset  Domesday,  152. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.         7 

stretched  along  the  lower  slopes  of  the  moorland,  chap.  i. 
whose  herbage,  though  too  rough  and  broken  for  The 
the  scythe,  gave  fair  grazing  ground  to  the  herds  of  Eclberht 
the  township,  while  by  stream  and  river  ran  the 
meadow-lands  of  homestead  after  homestead,  clear 
of  shrub  and  thicket,  girt  in  by  ditch  and  fence. 
About  the  homestead  stretched  the  broad  acres  of 
the  corn-land,  with  gangs  of  eight  oxen,  each  drag- 
ging its  plough  through  the  furrows.  All  the  features 
of  English  life,  in  fact  all  its  characteristic  figures, 
were  already  there.  We  see  mills  grinding  along 
the  burns,  the  hammer  rings  in  the  village  smithy, 
the  thegn's  hall  rises  out  of  its  demesne,  the  parish 
priest  is  at  his  mass-book  in  the  little  church  that 
forms  the  centre  of  every  township,  reeves  are  gath- 
ering their  lord's  dues,  forester  and  verderer  wake 
the  silent  woodland  with  hound  and  horn,  the  moot 
gathers  for  order  and  law  beneath  the  sacred  oak  or 
by  the  gray  stone  on  the  moor,  along  the  shore  the 
well-to-do  saltmen  are  busy  with  their  salt-pans,  and 
the  fishers  are  washing  their  nets  in  the  little  coast 
hamlets,  and  setting  apart  the  due  of  fish  for  their 
lords.* 

Side  by  side,  however,  with  this  industrial  change  influence 
in  the  temper  and  aspect  of  the  country,  was  %ovi\^    anityT 

^  No  nxauor  was  complete  without  its  mill,  and  Domesday  gives^ 
272  mills  in  Dorset,  some  simply  winter-mills,  some  on  streamlets 
that  have  now  wholly  vanished.  Most  of  the  smiths  lived  in  the 
country  towns.  Though  salt  was  already  dug  from  the  Cheshire 
mines,  the  want  of  communication  forced  each  district  to  supply 
itself  as  it  could,  and  we  find  in  Domesday  between  seventy  and 
eighty  saltmen  along  the  Dorset  coast,  seemingly  villeins,  but  pay- 
ing such  large  rent  as  to  prove  their  trade  a  profitable  one.  Fishers, 
too,  were  found  along  the  coast,  villeins  like  the  saltmen,  and  like  them 
paying  dues  to  their  lords. — Eyton,  Dorset  Domesday,  pp.  50,  51. 


8         THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  on  a  far  more  profound  change  in  its  moral  life. 
The     We  have  already  noted  the  more  striking  and  pict- 

i^bwht.  uresque  sides  of  the  revolution  which  had  been 
wrought  in  the  displacement  of  the  old  faith  and  the 
adoption  of  the  new — the  planting  of  a  Church  on 
the  soil  with  its  ecclesiastical  organization,  its  bish- 
ops, its  priests,  its  court,  and  its  councils,  its  language, 
its  law,  above  all,  the  new  impulse  given  to  political 
consolidation  by  the  building  up  of  Britain  into  a 
single  religious  communion.  But  these  results  of 
the  new  faith  were  small  and  unimportant  beside 
the  revolution  which  was  wrought  by  it  in  individual 
life.  From  the  cradle  to  the  grave  it  had  forced  on 
the  Englishman  a  new  law  of  conduct,  new  habits, 
new  conceptions  of  life  and  society.  It  entered 
above  all  into  that  sphere  within  which  the  individ- 
ual will  of  the  freeman  had  been  till  now  supreme — 
the  sphere  of  the  home ;  it  curtailed  his  powers  over 
child  and  wife  and  slave ;  it  forbade  infanticide,  the 
putting  away  of  wives,  or  cruelty  to  the  serf.  It 
challenged  almost  every  social  conception ;  it  denied 
to  the  king  his  heritage  of  the  blood  of  the  gods ;  it 
proclaimed  slavery  an  evil,  war  an  evil,  manual  labor 
a  virtue.  It  met  the  feud  face  to  face  by  denounc- 
ing revenge.  It  held  up  gluttony  and  drunkenness, 
the  very  essence  of  the  old  English  "  feast,"  as  sins. 
It  claimed  to  control  every  circumstance  of  life.  It 
interfered  with  labor-customs  by  prohibitions  of  toil 
on  Sundays  and  holydays.  It  forced  on  a  rude 
community,  to  which  bodily  joys  were  dear,  long  and 
painful  fasts.  Even  profounder  modifications  were 
brought  about  by  the  changes  it  wrought  in  the  per- 
sonal history  of  every  Englishman.     Ceremonialism 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.         g 

hung  round  every  one  in  those  old  days  from  the  chap.i. 
cradle  to  the  grave,  and  by  the  contact  with  Christen-  The 
dom  the  whole  character  of  English  ceremonialism  E%bwht 
was  altered.  The  very  babe  felt  the  change.  Bap- 
tism  succeeded  the  "dragging  through  the  earth" 
for  Hertha.  A  new  kin  was  created  for  child  and 
parents  in  the  "  gossip  "  of  the  christening.  The 
next  great  act  of  life,  marriage,  remained  an  act 
done  before  and  with  assent  of  the  fellow-villagers; 
but  new  bonds  of  affinity  limited  a  man's  choice ; 
and  while  the  old  hand-plighting  and  wed  survived, 
the  priest's  blessing  was  added.  The  burial-rite  was 
as  completely  altered.  The  burial-fire  was  abolished; 
and  instead  of  resting  beneath  his  mound,  like  Beo- 
wulf, on  some  wind-swept  headland  or  hill,  the  Chris- 
tian warrior  slept  with  his  fellows  in  his  lowly  grave 
beneath  the  shade  of  the  village  church. 

But  if  the  old  faith  was  beaten  by  the  new,  it  was  ^^^  ^^.""jf' 
long  in  being  killed.  A  hundred  years  after  the  Heathen- 
conversion  of  Kent,  King  Wihtraed  had  still  to  for- 
bid Kentishmen  t' offering  to  devils.'"  At  the  very 
close  of  the  eighth  century  synods  in  Mercia  and 
Northumbria  were  struggling  against  the  heathen 
practice  of  eating  horse-flesh '  at  the  feast  to  Woden. 
In  spite  of  this  resistance,  however,  Wodenism  was 
so  completely  vanquished  that  even  the  coming  of 
the  Danes  failed  to  revive  it.  The  Christian  priest 
had  no  longer  to  struggle  against  the  worship  of 
Thunder  or  of  Frigga.  But  the  far  older  nature- 
worship,  the  rude  fetichism  which  dated  back  to  ages 

1  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  41. 

'Confess.   Ecgberti,  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  ii.   163;   Haddan  and 
Stubbs,  Councils,  iii.  459. 


^ 


lO        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  long  before  history,  had  tougher  and  deeper  roots. 
The      The. new  religion  could  turn  the  nature-deities  of 

Ecgbe°iit.  this  primeval  superstition  into  devils,  its  spells  into 
magic,  its  spaewives  into  witches,  but  it  could  never 
banish  them  from  the  imagination  of  men  ;  it  had,  in 
the  end,  even  to  capitulate  to  the  nature-worship,  to 
adopt  its  stones  and  its  wells,  to  turn  its  spells  into 
exorcisms  and  benedictions,  its  charms  into  prayers. 
How  persistent  was  the  strength  of  the  older  belief 
we  see  even  at  a  later  time  than  we  have  reached. 
"  If  witches  or  diviners,"  says  Eadward,  "perjurers  or 
morth-workers,  or  foul,  defiled,  notorious  adulteresses 
be  found  anywhere  within  the  land,  let  them  be 
driven  from  the  country  and  the  people  cleansed, 
or  let  them  wholly  perish  within  the  country."' 
i^thelstan,  Eadmund,  and  i^thelred'  are  as  vigor- 
ous in  their  enactments ;  and  the  Church  Councils 
were  fierce  in  their  denunciations  of  these  lower 
superstitions.  "We  earnestly  forbid  all  heathen- 
dom," says  a  canon  of  Cnut's  day.  "  Heathendom  is 
that  men  worship  idols ;  that  is,  that  they  worship 
heathen  gods,  and  the  sun  or  the  moon,  fire  or  rivers, 
water-wells  or  stones,  or  great  trees  of  any  kind ;  or 
that  they  love  witchcraft  or  promote  '  morth-work ' 
in  any  wise,  or  by  '  blot '  or  by  '  fyrht,'  or  do  any- 
thing of  like  illusions." '  "  If  witches  or  diviners, 
morth-workers  or  adulteresses,  be  anywhere .  found 
in  the  land,  let  them  be  diligently  driven  out  of  the 
country,  or  let  them  wholly  perish  in  the  country, 
save  that  they  cease  and  amend."'  The  effort  of 
the  kings  and  the  Church  was  far  from  limiting  it- 

*  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  173.  ^  Ibid.  i.  203,  247,  317. 

'  Laws  of  Cnut.— Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  379.  *  Ibid. 


V" 


'fr,  ^ 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.   'V'^j 

self  to  words.     In  the  tenth  century  we  hear  of  the 
first  instance  of  a  death  in  England  for  heresy,  in     The 
the   actual   drowning   of   a   witch-wife   at  London  ^gife^M* 
Bridge/  — 

But  as^ainst  many  a  heathen  usasre  even  Councils  survival 

c>  J  «=>  ^       of  heathen 

did  not  struggle.  Easter  fires,  Mayday  fires,  Mid-  customs, 
summer  fires,  with  their  numerous  ceremonies,  the 
rubbing  the  sacred  flame,"  the  running  through  the 
glowing  embers,  the  throwing  flowers  on  the  fire,  the 
baking  in  it  and  distributing  large  loaves  and  cakes, 
with  the  round  dance  about  it,  remained  village 
customs.  At  Christmas  the  entry  of  the  boar's 
head,  decked  with  laurel  and  rosemary,  recalled  the 
sacrifice  of  the  boar  to  Frigga  at  the  Midwinter 
feast  of  the  old  heathendom.  The  autumn  feast 
lingered  on  unchallenged  in  the  village  harvest- 
home,  with  the  sheaf,  in  old  times  a  symbol  of  the 
god,  nodding,  gay  with  flowers  and  ribbons,  on  the 
last  wagon.  As  the  ploughman  took  to  his  plough 
he  still  chanted  the  prayer  that,  though  christened 
as  it  were  by  the  new  faith,  remained  in  substance  a* 
cry  to  the  Earth-Goddess  of  the  old,  "  Earth,  Earth, 
Earth,  Mother  Earth,  grant  thee  the  Almighty  One, 
grant  thee  the  Lord,  acres  waxing,  and  sprouts  wan- 
toning .  .  .  and  the  broad  crops  of  barley,  and  the 
white  wheat-crop,  and  all  crops  of  earth."  So,  as 
he  drove  the  first  furrow  he  sang  again,  "  Hail, 
Mother  Earth,  thou  feeder  of  folk,  be  thou  growing 
by  goodness  of  God,  filled  with  fodder,  the  folk  to 
feed." ' 

But  if  Christianity  failed  in  winning  a  complete      The 

^  Cod.  Dip.  591.  '  Kemble,  Sax.  in  England,  i,  360. 

"  Cockayne,  Saxon  Leechdoms,  etc.,  i.  402-405. 


12  THE   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

ciiAP.  I.  victory  in  this  strife  with  the  primeval  religion, 
The     which  the  tradition  of  ages  had  almost  made  a  part 

Ecgberhrof  human  thought  and  feeling,  its  outer  victory  over 
individual  and  social  life  was  unquestioned.  One  of 
its  momentous  results  was  the  intrusion  into  the 
social  system  of  a  new  class — that  of  the  clergy. 
The  shorn  head  had  its  own  social  rights.  Bishop, 
priest,  lesser  clerk,  had  each  his  legal  "  wer  "  as  well 
as  king,  thegn,  ceorl.  The  churchmen  formed  a 
distinct  element  in  the  state,  an  element  to  which,  in 
numbers,  wealth,  influence,  jurisdiction,  character, 
nothing  analogous  existed  in  the  older  English 
society;  a  class  with  its  own  organization,  rule,  laws, 
discipline,  carefully  defined  by  VvTitten  documents,  in 
face  of  a  world  where  all  was  yet  vague,  fluctuating, 
traditional.  But  this  class  had  hardly  taken  its 
place  in  English  society  when  influences  from  with- 
out and  from  within  began  to  modify  its  relation  to 
the  general  body  of  the  state ;  and  yet  more  radical 
modifications  were  brought  about  by  the  Danish 
wars.  The  very  character  of  the  Church  was 
changed.  English  Christianity  had  in  its  earlier 
days  been  specially  monastic.  But  the  development 
of  the  country  was  fast  changing  the  relation  of 
monasticism  to  its  religious  needs.  The  earlier 
monasteries  had  been  practically  mission-stations — 
centres  from  which  preachers  went  out  to  convert 
the  country,  and  from  which,  after  its  conversion, 
priests  were  still  sent  about  to  conduct  its  worship. 
But  as  the  country  became  Christian  the  place  of 
these  missionaries  was  taken  by  the  parish  priest. 
The  influence  of  the  unmonastic  clergy,  the  seculars, 
as  they  were  termed,  superseded  that  of  the  regu- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        i^ 

lars.     It  was  not  by  monasteries,  but  by  its  parochial  chap.  i. 
organization,  that  the  Church  was  henceforth  to  pen-     The 
etrate  into  the  very  heart  of  English  society.  "^gbwlt 

It  was  only  by  slow  degrees  that  the  parish,  or  J^ 
kirkshire  as  it  was  then  called,  attained  a  settled  .^'''''^^^^.''^ 
form.  The  three  classes  of  churches  which  we  find 
noted  in  the  laws  mark  so  many  stages  in  the  re- 
ligious annexation  of  the  land.  The  minster,  or 
mother  church,  which  levied  dues  over  wide  tracts,' 
recalled  the  earlier  days  when  the  Church  still  had 
an  exclusively  monastic  form,  and  its  preachers  went 
forth  from  mountain  centres  to  evangelize  the 
country.  The  next  stage  was  represented  by  the 
manorial  church,  the  establishment  within  this  wide 
area  by  lord  after  lord  of  churches  on  their  own 
estates '  for  the  service  of  their  dependants,  the  ex- 
tent of  whose  spiritual  jurisdiction  was  at  first  coin- 
cident with  that  of  the  estate  itself.  A  third  class, 
of  small  churches  without  burial-grounds,  repre- 
sented the  growing  demands  of  popular  religion. 
From  Baeda's  letter  to  Archbishop  Ecgberht  we  see 
that  the  establishment  of  manorial  churches,  that  is, 
of  what  we  commonly  mean  by  a  parochial  system, 
was  still  far  from  complete,  at  least  in  Northumbria, 
in  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century ;  but  in  the  half 
century  that  followed,  it  had  probably  extended  itself 
fairly  over  the  land.  An  attempt  was  also  made  to 
provide  a  settled  livelihood  for  ths^  parish  priests  in 
the  "  tithe,"  or  payment  of  a  tenth  of  the  farm- 
produce  by  their  parishioners ; '  but  the  obligation  to 

*  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  263,  265  ;  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  262. 

'  See  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  191,  263. 

'  "  A  tithe  of  young  by  Pentecost,  and  of  earth-fruits  by  All  Hal- 


14        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiAP.  I.  pay  this  was  still  only  imperfectly  recognized,  and 
The     the  repeated  injunctions  of  kinoes  and  synods  from 

England  of   ;t^  ,     ,  .  i         i      • 

Ecgberht  Athclstan  downwards  witness,  by  their  repetition,  to 
the  general  disobedience.  It  is  probable  that  the 
priest  as  yet  relied  far  more  for  his  subsistence  on 
his  dues,  on  the  "  plough-alms "  after  Easter,  the 
"  church-shot "  at  Martinmas,  and  "  light-shot "  thrice 
in  the  year,  as  well  as  the  "  soul-shot "  that  was  paid 
at  the  open  grave. 
'^^amuhf  Nothing  is  more  remarkable  in  this  extension  of 
township,  tj^e  ecclesiastical  system  than  the  changes  wrought 
by  it  in  the  original  unit  of  English  social  life.  The 
stages  by  which  the  township  passed  into  its  modern 
form  of  the  parish,  and  by  which  almost  every  trace 
of  its  civil  life  successively  disappeared,  are  obscure 
and  hard  to  follow,  but  the  change  began  with  the 
first  entry  of  the  Christian  priest  into  the  township.' 
The  village  church  seems  often  to  have  been  built 
on  the  very  mound  that  had  served  till  then  for  the 
gatherings  of  the  tunsfolk.  It  is  through  this  that 
we  so  often  find  in  later  days  the  tun-moot  held  in 
the  church-yard  or  ground  about  the  church ;  and  the 
common  practice  even  now  of  the  farmers  gathering 
for  conference  outside  the  church  porch  before 
morning  service  may  preserve  a  memory  of  this 
freer  open-air  life  of  the  moot  before  it  became 
merged  in  the  parish  vestry.  The  church  thus  be- 
came the  centre  of  village  life ;  it  was  at  the  church- 
door  as  in  the  moot,  that  "  banns  "  were  proclaimed, 
marriages  or   bargains   made ;  even  the  "  fair,"  or 

lows  mass." — Laws  of  ^thelred.    Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  319.    See 
Laws  of  Eadward  and  Guthrum,  ibid.  p.  171. 
*  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  96,  104,  260. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


15 


market,  was  held  in  the  church-yard,  and  the  village  chap.  i. 
feast,  an  institution  no  doubt  of  immemorial  an-  The 
tiquity,  was  held  on  the  day  of  the  saint  to  which  ^fbwht. 
the  church  was  dedicated ;  while  the  priest  himself, 
as  its  custodian,  displaced  more  and  more  the  tun- 
reeve  or  elder.  It  was  he  who  preserved  the  weights 
and  measures  of  the  little  community,'  who  headed 
the  "beating"  of  its  bounds,  who  administered  its 
oaths  and  ordeals,'  who  led  its  four  chosen  men  to 
hundred-moot  or  folk-moot,  and  sometimes  even  to 
the  field.  The  revolution  which  was  transforming 
the  free  township  into  the  manor  of  a  lord  aided  in 
giving  the  priest  a  public  position.  Though  the 
lord's  court  came  to  absorb  the  bulk  of  the  work  of 
the  older  tuurmoot,  the  regulation  and  apportionment 
of  the  land,  the  enforcement  of  by-laws,  the  business 
of  its  police,  yet  the  tun-moot  retained  the  little  that 
grant  or  custom  had  not  stripped  from  it ;  and  it  is 
thus  that,  in  its  election  of  village  officers,  of  church- 
warden and  waywarden,  as  well  as  in  its  exercise 
of  the  right  of  taxation  within  the  township  for  the 
support  of  church  and  poor,  we  are  enabled  to  recog- 
nize in  the  parish  vestry,  with  the  priest  at  its  head, 
the  survival  of  the  village-moot  which  had  been  the 
nucleus  of  our  early  life." 

Without,,  the  new  faith  brought  England  for  the  ^'4^'>«- 
first  time,  as  we  K^ve  seen,  into  religious  contact 
with  the  western  world  through  the  mission-work  of 
Boniface  and  his  foliowe'rs    in  Germany,  and  into 
political  contact  with  it  through  the  relations  which 

*  Lingard,  Anglo-Saxon  Church,  i.  171. 

'  Ibid.  ii.  132  et  seq. 

'  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  104. 


1 6        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^i.  this  mission  work  established  with  the  Empire  of 
The     the  Franks.     But  a  social  contact  of  a  far  closer  and 

Eclberht  more  national  kind  was  brought  about  by  the  growth 
of  pilgrimages.  At  the  time  which  we  have  reached, 
pilgrimages  were  among  the  leading  features  of  Eng- 
lish life.  The  spell  which  the  mere  name  of  Rome 
had  thrown  over  Wilfrid  and  Benedict  Biscop  had 
only  wrought  the  more  widely  as  years  went  on. 
From  churchman  it  passed  to  layman,  and  the  en- 
thusiasm reached  its^  height  when  English  kings 
laid  down  their  crowns  to  become  suppliants  at  the 
shrine  of  the  apostles.  Fresh  from  his  slaughter  of 
the  Jutes  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  the  West-Saxon 
Ceadwalla  "  went  to  Rome,  being  desirous  to  obtain 
the  peculiar  honor  of  being  washed  in  the  font  of 
baptism  within  the  church  of  the  blessed  apostles ; 
for  he  had  learned  that  in  baptism  alone  the  entrance 
of  heaven  is  opened  to  mankind,  and  he  hoped  that 
laying  down  his  flesh  as  soon  as  he  was  baptized,  he, 
being  cleansed,  should  immediately  pass  to  the  eter- 
nal joys  of  heaven.  Both  which  things  came  to  pass 
as  he  had  conceived  them  in  his  mind.  For  com- 
ing to  Rome,"  in  689, "  he  was  baptized  on  the  holy 
Saturday  before  Easter  Day,  and  being  still  in  his 
white  garment  he  fell  sick,  was  freed  from  the  flesh," 
on  the  20th  of  April,  "  and  was  associated  with  the 
blessed  in  heaven." '  Twenty  years  later  a  king  of 
the  Mercians  and  a  king  of  the  East  Saxons  quitted 
their  thrones  to  take  the  tonsure  at  Rome,'  and  in 
725  even  Ine  of  Wessex  gave  up  the  strife  with  the 
anarchy  about  him,  and  made  his  way  to  die  amidst 
the  sacred  memories  of  the  holy  city. 
'  Baeda,  H.  E.  lib.  v.  c.  7.  « Ibid.  lib.  v.  c.  19. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


17 


The  pilgrimages  of  the  kings  gave  a  new  energy  chap,  l 
to  the  movement,  and  from  this  time  the  pilgrims'  The 
way  was  thronged  by  groups  of  English  folk, "  noble  ^gbwl? 
and  ceorl,  layman  and  clerk,  men  and  women.'"  ~.^ 
The  dangers  and  hardships  of  the  journey  failed  to  dangers. 
deter  them.  The  road  which  the  pilgrims  followed 
was  mainly  the  same  by  which  English  travellers 
nowadays  reach  Italy;  they  landed  at  Quentavic 
near  Boulogne,  which  was  then  the  chief  port  of 
the  northern  coast  of  Gaul,  and,  crossing  the  high 
grounds  -of  Burgundy  at  Langres,'  journeyed  along 
the  Saone  valley  and  Savoy  to  the  passes  of  Mount 
Cenis.  It  was  in  these  Alpine  districts  that  the 
troubles  of  the  pilgrims  reached  their  height ;  for  if 
an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  could  be  frozen  to 
death  in  traversing  them,"  we  may  conjecture  how 
severe  must  have  been  the  sufferings  of  poorer 
travellers ;  but  to  the  natural  hardships  of  the  jour- 
ney was  added  the  hostility  of  their  fellow-men.  To 
the  robber  lords  of  the  mountain  valleys  pilgrims 
were  a  natural  prey.  It  was  in  vain  that  Ofia  and 
Cnut  alike  sought  protection  for  their  subjects  from 
Charles  the  Great  and  the  Emperor  Conrad.  Im- 
perial edicts  told  little  on  the  greed  of  these  hungry 
mountain  wolves ;  an  archbishop  was  plundered  in 
Cnut's  own  day;  and  soon  after  the  marauders  were 
lucky  enough  to  pillage  three  bishops  as  well.'  It 
was  in  vain  that  the  wayfarers  gathered  into  com- 

'  Baeda,  H.  E.  lib.  v.  c.  7,  "  Quod  his  temporibus  plures  de  gente 
Anglorum,  nobiles,  ignobiles,  laici,  clerici,  viri  et  feminse,  certatim 
facere,  consuerunt." 

*  Baeda,  Lives  of  Abbots  of  Wearmouth,  sec.  21. 

'  Will.  Malm.,Gest.  Pontif.  (Opera,  ed.  Migne,  col.  1453). 

*  Angl.  Sacr.  ii.  129. 

2     ■  ■.■■.,^..' 


1 8        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  panics  for  mutual  protection  ;'  for  the  country  with 
The     its  defiles  and  precipices  was  itself  on  the  side  of 

^bwht  their  assailants,  and  in  the  opening  of  the  tenth 
century  we  hear  of  the  surprise  and  slaughter  of  two 
bodies  of  English  pilgrims  in  the  mountains. 
toluilrit'  -^^^  neither  the  dangers  of  the  journey  nor  the 
fever  that  awaited  them  at  its  close  checked  the  rush 
of  pilgrims.'  The  increase  in  number,  indeed,  had 
been  accompanied  by  a  falling  off  in  the  character 
of  the  travellers.  In  some  cases  the  exemption  from 
port-dues  which  was  granted  to  pilgrims  seems  to 
have  been  used  as  a  cover  for  smuggling ;  while  the 
custom  of  enforcing  a  visit  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Peter 
as  a  penance  for  ecclesiastical  crimes  must  have  in- 
troduced a  criminal  element  into  the  pilgrim  com- 
panies. The  association  was  the  easier,  as  the  un- 
shorn hair  and  beard  which  the  law  imposed  on  the 
"  banished "  man  was  also  the  customary  mark  of 
the  pilgrim.  Poverty,  too,  told  hardly  on  the  virtue 
of  the  women  devotees ;  and  Boniface,  with  a  touch 
of  priestly  exaggeration,  protests  that  by  the  middle 
of  the  eighth  century  Englishwomen  of  evil  life 
could  be  found  in  every  city  in  Lombardy.'  But  the 
religious  impulse  never  ceased  to  supply  worthier 
pilgrims  than  these;  there  was  indeed  so  constant 
a  stream  of  Englishmen  traversing  Rome  from 
shrine  to  shrine,  Hstening  to  its  wild  legends,  gather- 
ing relics,  books,  gold-work,  and  embroidery,  that  it 

*  We  find  eighty  Englishmen  in  the  train  of  Abbot  Ceolfrid  of 
Wearmouth. — Baeda,  Lives  of  Abbots  of  Wearmouth,  sec.  21. 

'  "  Magna  febris  fatigatio  advenas  illic  venientes  visitare  seu 
gravare  solet." — Life  of  St.  Winibald,  ap.  Canis.  p.  126,  quoted  by 
Lingard,  Anglo-Saxon  Church,  ii.  127. 

•  Lett.  Bonif.  (ed.  Giles),  Ixiii.  p.  146 ;  cf.  xlix.  p.  104. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ig 

was  necessary   by   Offa's   day  to  found  a  distinct  chap.i. 
quarter  of  the  town,  called  the  "  Saxon  School,"  for     The 
their  reception  and  shelter.  E^berht. 

It  would  be  hard  to  trace  out  the  multifold  forms   j^^^,^ 
in  which  the  new  relisjion  impressed  itself  upon  the     ^"^.^, 

^       .         ,  ^  wiwrttten 

social  and  political  organization  of  the  people  whom  law, 
it  had  won.  We  have  already  seen  the  influence 
which  it  exerted  on  the  intellectual  development  of 
the  country;  but  if  the  art  of  writing,  as  the  mission- 
aries introduced  it,  made  a  revolution  in  our  litera- 
ture, it  made  an  even  greater  revolution  in  our  law. 
Law,  as  all  early  tribes  understood  it,  was  simply  the 
custom  of  each  separate  people  as  uttered  from 
memory  by  its  "  law-man,"  under  check  of  his  as- 
sessors and  of  the  gathered  folk.  Such  utterances 
were  looked 'on  as  changeless  and  divine.  The  au- 
thority of  the  past  was,  in  fact,  unquestioned ;  the 
people  itself  was  conscious  of  no  power  to  change 
the  customs  of  its  fathers ;  and  it  was  only  by  an 
unconscious  adaptation  to  the  varying  circumstances 
of  each  generation  that  this  oral  law  was  ceaselessly 
modified.  But  with  the  writing  down  of  these  cus- 
toms the  whole  conception  of  law  was  changed. 
Not  only  was  its  sacred  character,  as  well  as  the 
mystery  which  veiled  its  sources  in  the  memory  of 
the  law-man,  taken  from  it,  but  the  mere  writing 
them  down  fixed  and  hardened  the  customs  them- 
selves and  took  from  them  their  power  of  adapta- 
tion and  self-development;  for  change  in  the  laws 
could  henceforth  only  be  wrought  consciously,  and 
on  grounds  of  reason  or  necessity  which  questioned 
or  set  aside  the  authority  they  drew  from  the 
past. 


20        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiAP.i.  What  caused  this  revolution  to  be  so  little  felt 
The     was  the  slowness  with  which  it  was  wrought.     Great 

Ecgbwht.  as  was  the  fame  of  ^^thelberht's  code  among  schol- 
^j     ars   like    Baeda,  it  was  long  before  the  rival  states 

English  followed  the  example  of  Kent.     There  is  nothinof  to 

codes.  .         T         .        .  ,  .  ^ 

warrant  us  m  believmg  that  written  law  reached 
Wessex  before  Ine,  or  Mercia  before  0£fa,  or  that 
it  ever  reached  Northumbria  at  all.  The  sphere,  too, 
of  the  written  code  remained  a  narrow  and  partial 
one ;  it  restricted  itself,  for  the  most  part,  to  such 
customs  as  were  affected  by  the  new  moral  concep- 
tions which  Christianity  brought  in  and  the  new 
social  order  it  created,  or  to  the  changes  in  police  or 
in  land-tenure  which  sprang  from  the  natural  ad- 
vance of  population  and  wealth.*  i^thelberht's  laws 
are  little  more  than  a  record  of  the  customary  fines 
for  penal  offences,  with  a  provision  for  the  legal 
status  of  the  new  Christian  priesthood,"  and  in  the 
Kentish  codes  that  follow,  it  is  mainly  on  the  eccle- 
siastical side  that  the  area  of  legislation  is  widened." 
Ine  found  himself  forced  by  the  advance  of  industry, 
and  by  a  new  state  of  public  order,  to  deal  largely 

^  The  earliest  codes  we  possess  are  those  of  Kent — the  laws  of 
-^thelberht  (ab.  600),  those  of  Hlothere  and  Eadric  (673-685),  and 
those  of  Wihtraed  (ab.  690).  Ine's  laws  (676-705)  are  our  only 
West- Saxon  code.  The  Mercian  code  of  Offa  (755-794),  though 
used  by  Alfred  in  his  compilation,  is  now  lost. 

"^  Out  of  ninety  clauses,  forty-one  fix  the  fines  for  injur)'  to  various 
parts  of  the  body.  Almost  all  the  laws  refer  to  violent  attacks  on 
person  or  property:  there  is  no  mention  of  trade  or  agriculture. 
The  Church  is  mentioned  in  the  first  provision  alone. 

^  The  Church  is  not  mentioned  in  Hlothere  and  Eadric's  laws,  of 
whose  sixteen  provisions  about  half  are  fines  for  violence,  the  rest 
being,  for  the  most  part,  regulations  as  to  plaints  in  a  suit,  chapmen, 
and  man-stealing ;  but  those  of  Wihtraed  are  almost  wholly  eccle- 
siastical. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        2 1 

with  the  subjects  of  agriculture  and  police/  while  chap.  1. 
fresh  provisions  were  needed  to  regulate  the  position     The 
of  the  Welsh  who  had  submitted  to  his  sword ;  but  Ecfberht. 
in  other  ways  the  bounds  of  his  legislation  are  as 
narrow  as  those  of  the  Kentish  code ;  nor,  so  far  as 
we   can    gather   from    Alfred's    compilation,  were 
those  of  Offa  any  wider.     To  the  last,  indeed,  the 
whole  of  our  family  law%  w'ith  the  bulk  of  our  village 
and  of  our  land  law,  remained  purely  oral. 

The  new  moral  ideas  which  were  generated  alike  ^f^^^4 
by  Christianity  and  by  the  settlement  of  the  com- Mispm- 
munity  itself  in  more  peaceful  and  industrious  form 
told  with  equal  force  on  English  jurisprudence.  A 
glance  at  the  early  history  of  our  national  justice 
shows  that  its  original  groundwork  was  the  right 
of  feud.  Older  than  "the  peace  of  the  folk,"  far 
older  than  "  the  king's  peace,"  which  was  to  succeed 
it,  was  the  "  frith  "  or  peace  of  the  freeman  himself — 
the  right  that  each  man  had  to  secure  for  himself 
safe  life  and  sound  limb.  He  lay,  as  the  phrase  ran 
then,  "  in  his  own  hand." '     It  was  his  right  to  fight 

*  A  fourth  of  Ine's  laws  are  concerned  with  agriculture  in  some 
way  or  other,  such  as  the  fencing  of  lands,  protection  of  woods, 
cattle -stealing  and  maiming,  trespass,  firing  of  fences,  etc.  Few 
relate  to  acts  of  violence,  but  nearly  a  quarter  of  the  whole  code  is 
concerned  with  theft,  while  the  subject  of  trade  comes  for  the  first 
time  prominently  forward.  Legal  procedure,  again,  is  largely  treat- 
ed. Under  internal  police  we  may  place  the  provisions  for  deter- 
mining the  relations  of  a  man  with  his  lord,  for  regulating  the 
quitting  of  lands,  and  the  like.  The  laws  against  mutilation  of 
cattle,  no  doubt  records  of  early  custom,  are  really  directed  against 
damage  done  to  what  was  the  general  medium  of  exchange,  for  a 
mutilated  beast  was  useless  for  purposes  of  barter. 

"^  "  Mund,"  or  "  hand,"  meant  the  protection  conferred  by  any  one 
and  the  peace  consequent  on  it,  and  " mund-bryce,"  or  "hand- 
breach,"  was  the  violent  breaking  in  on  this  peace  and  the  sum  paid 


22        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  his  foe,  his  right,  and  even  his  duty,  personally  to 
The      exact  vengeance  for  wrong  done  to  him ;  and  his 

E^bwht  kinsmen  were  bound  by  their  tie  of  blood  to  aid 
him  alike  in  self-defence  and  in  revenge.  Traces  of 
this  older  state  of  things,  in  which  every  freeman 
was  his  own  absolute  guardian  and  avenger,  ran 
through  the  whole  structure  of  our  later  jurispru- 
dence and  procedure.  A  man  might  slay  one  whom 
he  found  in  his  own  house  within  closed  doors  with 
his  wife,  or  daughter,  or  sister,  or  mother ; '  he  might 
slay  the  thief  whom  he  caught  red-handed  in  the 
actual  commission  of  his  theft,"  or  the  accused  man 
who  would  not  come  in  peacefully  to  make  answer 
to  the  charge.'  But  as  a  general  right,  that  of  un- 
regulated vengeance  had  long  passed  away  before 
Saxon  or  Engle  reached  Britain.  The  conquerors 
came  as  "folks;"  and  the  very  existence  of  a  folk 
implied  a  "  folk-frith  "  of  the  community  as  a  whole. 
Every  man  of  the  folk  lay  in  "  the  folk's  hand ;"  and, 
wrong-doer  as  he  might  be,  it  was  only  when  the 
"  hand  "  was  opened,  and  its  protection  withdrawn, 
that  the  folk  couid  suffer  him  to  be  maimed  or  slain." 
The  earliest  conception,  therefore,  of  public  justice 

as  atonement  for  such  a  "  breach  of  the  peace." — Essays  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  Law  (Boston),  p.  279.  Even  in  later  days  we  may  note  that 
before  paying  the  "  wite,"  or  fine  for  the  breach  of  the  "  folk-peace," 
a  culprit  has  to  pay  the  "  bot,"  or  atonement  to  the  wronged  man 
for  the  breach  of  his  own  peace. 

^  LI.  Alfred,  4;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  91. 

^  LI.  Ine,  12,  1 6,  2 1 ,  28,  35  ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  1 1  i-i  25. 

^  LI.  Eadw.  and  Guthr.  6 ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  171. 

*  "  It  was  a  fundamental  rule  of  German  law  that  vengeance  must 
be  authorized  by  previous  permission  of  the  Court,  or  if  it  preceded 
the  judgment,  it  must  afterwards  be  justified  before  the  tribunal." — ■ 
Essays  in  Ang.-Sax.  Law,  p.  264. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^X 

was  a  solemn  waiver  on  the  part  of  the  community  chap.i. 
of  its  right  and  duty  of  protection  in  the  case  of  one  The 
who  had  wronged  his  fellow -member  of  the  folk,  "^^^e^ht 
Till  such  a  waiver  was  given  the  wrong-doer  re- 
maihed  in  the  folk's  "mund;"  and  to  act  against 
him  without  such  a  waiver,  or  without  appeal  to  the 
folk,  was  to  act  against  the  folk  itself,  for  it  was  a 
breach  of  the  peace  or  frith  to  which  his  "  mund  " 
entitled  him.  It  was  the  demand  for  such  a  with- 
drawal of  the  public  protection  that  constituted  the 
trial,  and  the  folk  were  the  only  judges  of  the  de- 
mand. Thrice,  and  before  good  witness,  had  the 
summons  to  the  folk-moot,  or  court,  to  be  given  by 
the  accuser  to  the  man  he  charged  with  the  crime, 
and  that  at  his  own  house,  at  the  sunsetting,  and 
seven  days  before  the  moot.  Refusal  thrice  repeated, 
on  the  part  of  the  accused,  to  hearken  to  the  sum- 
mons to  make  answer  in  the  folk-moot,  or  to  submit 
to  its  doom,  was  a  contempt  of  the  folk ;  but  only 
after  threefold  refusal  was  the  folk's  "  mund  "  with- 
drawn from  him ;  till  then  the  wronged  man  who 
sought  his  own  vengeance  for  the  wrong  broke  the 
folk-frith  and  became  a  wrong-doer  in  his  turn. 

It  was  thus  that  folk-moot  and  hundred-moot  as-  The  feud 
sumed  a  judicial  character.  Originally  they  were  folk. 
no  courts  of  justice  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word ; 
they  did  not  decide  on  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the 
charge  made,  still  less  did  they  assign  a  punishment 
for  wrong  done.  The  wrong  was  still  between  man 
and  man;  its  punishment,  if  punished  it  was,  must 
be  exacted  by  the  wronged  man,  or  his  kinsfolk,  from 
the  wrong-doer  by  sheer  fighting ;  but  ere  the  fight 
could  begin  the  leave  of  the  folk  at  large  had  to  be 


24        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  I.  sought  and  given.  The  license  ran  in  words  long 
The     preserved  in  English  law,  "  homini  liceat  pugnare," 

E(|berht.  "  jou  may  fight." '  But  before  such  a  license  could 
be  procured,  it  was  needful  that  the  folk  should  de- 
cide that  the  man  had  a  right  to  fight;  and  the  ac- 
cused thus  found  himself  fronted  by  the  oath,"  the 
solemn  appeal  to  heaven.  It  may  be  that  here  again 
men  looked  on  their  fellow-men  as  being  in  the 
"  mund,"  not  only  of  the  folk,  but,  in  a  higher  sense, 
of  the  gods  they  served,  and  that,  as  the  appearance 
of  the  accuser  before  the  moot  was  a  seeking  for  the 
discharge  of  the  wrong-doer  from  the  protection  of 
the  folk,  so  the  oath  w^as  a  seeking  for  his  discharge 
from  the  protection  of  his  heavenly  lord  and  guar- 
dian. But  whether  such  a  conception,  or  more  dim 
and  vague  ideas  of  awe  and  dread,  as  of  a  vengeance 
of  the  gods  on  men  who  wronged  them  by  falsehood, 
gave  birth  to  the  oath,  it  was  the  soul  of  the  ju- 
dicial process  before  the  folk-moot.  By  a  fore-oath 
the  accuser  stated  his  charge  against  the  accused ; ' 
and  if  the  accused  met  oath  with  oath  the  appeal 
was  complete.  With  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the 
charge  the  folk  had  nothing  to  do :  what  it  had  to 
do  was  to  judge  whether  the  charge  was  of  such  a 
sort,  and  made  in  such  a  way,  as  to  give  the  accuser 
fair  ground  for  seeking  amends  from  the  accused. 
If  such  was  its  judgment,  the  folk  withdrew  its 
"mund,"  and  suffered  the  two  contending  parties  to 
wage  their  war. 

*  Alfred,  42  ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  p.  91. 

^  See  the  collection  of  oaths  in  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  179-185. 
'  He  might  show,  without  oath,  the  wound  with  which  he  charged 
him,  and  this  stood  in  place  of  the  oath. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        25 

But  its  jurisdiction  was  not  yet  exhausted.     As  a  chap.  i. 
people  interested  in  its  own  peace  and  order,  the     The 
folk  had  still  the  right,  as  it  had  the  power,  to  deter-  ^berht 
mine  how  this  war  should  be  waged.     Even  in  the     ^ 
earliest  days  custom  had  thrown  its  bonds  round  ^^""i'  ^/ 

the  feud. 

the  wild  right  of  private  war.  It  had  forbidden  all 
secret  vengeance,  such  as  poisoning,  all  mutilation 
or  cold-blooded  cruelty,  all  concealment  of  the  deed. 
Though  in  vengeance,  or  self-defence,  a  man  might 
slay  his  foe  if  he  met  him,  yet  "  If  a  man  slay  an- 
other man  in  revenge,  or  self-defence,"  ran  a  law 
which,  late  as  the  date  of  its  embodiment  in  writing 
may  be,  is  clearly  a  record  of  primeval  usage,  "  let 
him  take  to  himself  none  of  the  goods  of  the  dead, 
neither  his  horse,  nor  helmet,  nor  shield,  nor  any 
money,  but  in  wonted  manner  let  him  arrange  the 
body  of  the  dead  man,  his  head  to  the  west,  his  feet 
to  the  east,  upon  his  shield,  if  he  have  it ;  and  let 
him  drive  deep  his  lance,  and  hang  there  his  arms, 
and  to  it  rein  in  the  dead  man's  steed ;  and  let  him 
go  to  the  nearest  vill  and  declare  his  deed  to  the 
first  man  he  meets,  that  he  may  make  proof  and 
have  defence  against  the  kindred  and  friends  of  the 
man  he  has  slain." '  The  same  web  of  custom  threw 
itself  round  the  wider  warfare  of  the  kin.  As  late 
as  the  days  of  Alfred ""  we  see  the  kindred  of  the 
slain  man  gathered,  their  quick  secret  ride  over  the 
country,  the  foe's  house  surrounded  and  besieged ; 
but  not  for  seven  days,  ran  law  or  custom,  must  at- 
tack be  made ;  for  seven  days  the  vengeance-seeker 
and  his  kinsfolk  must  watch  the  house,  while  the 

^  Hen.  I.  83,  sec.  6 ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  591. 
'  LI.  Alfred,  42  ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  91. 


26        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  wrong-doer  within  takes  counsel  with  them  of  his 
The     household    whether   to   surrender   or  to   fight.     If 

Ecgherht.  within  these  days  he  chose  to  surrender,  for  thirty 
days  more  they  lay  about  the  house,  while  the  wrong- 
doer sent  about  his  friends  and  kinsmen  to  find 
men  who  would  aid  him  in  the  atonement  for  his 
crime ;'  and  it  was  not  till  these  were  gathered  that, 
taking  one  of  his  house  as  a  spokesman,  he  gave 
him  pledge  that  he  would  make  full  atonement,  and 
with  this  pledge  the  spokesman  came  forth  to  the 
kindred  of  the  slain.  Again,  in  their  turn,  these  gave 
pledge  that  the  slayer  might  draw  near  in  peace 
and  himself  give  pledge  for  the  "wer,"  or  atone- 
ment for  his  crime.  It  was  only  when  he  stood  be- 
fore them  and  gave  his  free  pledge  for  this  payment, 
and  strengthened  it  by  giving  security  for  its  com- 
pletion, that  the  feud  was  at  an  end. 
Ead-         With  all  these  bounds  and  limitations,  however, 

mund  s  re-  ,  '  ^  ' 

forms,  the  feud  became  more  and  more  incompatible  with 
the  growing  sense  of  humanity  and  public  order. 
"  Both  I  and  all  of  us,"  said  Eadmund,  in  a  proclama- 
tion to  his  people,''  "  hold  in  horror  the  unrighteous 
and  manifold  fightings  that  exist  among  ourselves." 
It  jarred,  too,  with  the  conception  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility that  Christianity  had  introduced,  and 
which  was  deepening  as  the  bonds  of  kinship  grew 
weaker  with  the  progress  of  society.  Eadmund  s 
law,  indeed,  struck  a  heavy  blow  at  the  very  principle 
of  kinship — "  If  henceforth  any  man  slay  another, 
let  him  bear  the  feud  himself  (save  that  by  the  aid 
of  his  fi-iends  and  within  twelve  months  he  make 

*  Ll.  Eadmund,  ii.  7 ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  251. 

*  LL  Eadmund  ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  246. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        27 

amends  with  the  full  wer),  to  be  borne  as  he  may.  ciup.  1. 
If  his  kinsmen  forsake  him  and  will  not  pay  for  The 
him,  it  is  my  will  that  all  the  kindred  be  out  of  feud,  Ec|bwht 
save  the  actual  doer  of  the  deed,  provided  that  they 
do  not  give  him  either  food  or  protection.  .  .  . 
Moreover,  if  any  of  the  other  man's  kinsmen  take 
vengeance  upon  any  man  save  the  actual  doer  of 
the  deed,  let  him  be  foe  to  the  king  and  all  his 
friends,  and  forfeit  all  that  he  has."*  It  was  only 
slowly  that  so  great  a  change  in  custom  and  feeling 
as  this  law  implies  could  be  actually  brought  about, 
and  the  feud  still  remained,  however  hampered  by 
reforms,  the  base  of  our  criminal  procedure ;  but  its 
enactment  shows  that  the  change  had  begun,  and 
that  two  conceptions,  from  whose  union  our  modern 
justice  was  to  spring — the  conception  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility for  crime,  and  the  conception  of  crime 
as  committed  primarily  not  against  the  individual 
but  against  the  public  peace — were  from  this  time 
to  exercise  a  deepening  influence  on  national  senti- 
ment. 

In  the  reforms  of  Eadmund,  however,  we  have  ..7^/^,^ 
passed  long  beyond  the  jurisprudence  of  the  time  j^^tice-' 
of  Ecgberht.  At  the  opening  of  the  ninth  century 
English  thought  was  still  far  from  our  modern  con- 
ceptions of  justice  or  law — from  the  conception  of 
crime  as  committed  primarily  against  the  public 
peace,  as  cognizable  only  by  public  authority,  and  as 
corrected  by  public  punishment.  As  yet,  and  for 
centuries  to  come,  all  that  either  king  or  community 
attempted  to  do  was  to  bring  the  right  of  private 
vengeance  and  self-protection  within  definite  and 
'  Ll.  Eadmund  ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  249. 


28        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I,  customary  bounds,  to  subject  it  to  the  previous 
The     sanction  and  permission  of  the  folk  in  the  folk-moot, 

^fberht.  to  provide  means  for  averting  it  where  no  good 
grounds  existed  for  its  exercise  by  solemn  oath  or 
ordeal  of  innocence  on  the  part  of  the  accused,  or, 
v^here  such  grounds  really  existed,  to  provide  and 
extend  the  sphere  of  a  fixed  and  customary  atone- 
ment in  place  of  actual  blood-shedding.  Scant,  how- 
ever, as  such  a  justice  may  seem  to  modern  eyes, 
it  would  have  been  practically  effective  for  the  pur- 
poses of  public  order  had  any  adequate  machinery 
existed  for  imposing  the  will  of  the  folk  on  accuser 
and  accused.  But  the  folk-moot  had  no  direct  means 
of  enforcing  its  doom.  If  a  man  thrice  refused, 
after  due  summons,  to  appear  before  it,  or  appeared 
but  refused  to  bow  to  its  decision,  he  put  himself, 
indeed,  by  his  very  act,  out  of  the  folk,  and  out  of  its 
protection  ;  he  became,  in  a  word,  an  "  outlaw,"  who 
might  be  hunted  down  like  a  wolf,  and  knocked  on 
the  head  by  any  man  who  met  him.'  But  beyond 
this  general  hostility  the  folk  had  no  means  of  forc- 
ing such  an  offender  to  submit  to  its  judgment.  A 
yet  weightier  obstacle  to  efficient  justice  was  often 
found  in  the  course  of  procedure  itself.  Accuser 
and  accused  brought  kinsmen  and  friends  in  their 
train  to  the  folk-moot,  whether  to  sway  its  doom  or 
to  enforce  it,  or  to  guard  against  vengeance  with- 
out law.  With  such  a  crowd  of  adherents  at  the 
moot,  it  must  always  have  been  hard  for  meaner 
men  to  get  justice  against  king's  thegn  or  country 
thegn,  and  as  the  nobles  rose  to  a  new  height  above 
the  people  it  was  easy  for  them  to  hold  hundred- 

^  Ess.  in  Ang.-Sax.  Law,  27',  275,  283. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        30 

moot,  and  even  folk-moot,  at  bay.     Kent  was  among  chap.  i. 
the  most  civilized  and  orderly  parts  of  England,  but     The 
at  an  even  later  time  than  this  we  find  the  great  ^bwh? 
men  of  Kent  setting  the  doom  of  its  folk-moot  abso- 
lutely  at  defiance.' 

It  was  this  difficulty,  more  than  all  else,  that  must  „  ??^^ 
have  led  to  the  passing  of  the  "folk's  justice"  into  justuer 
"  the  justice  of  the  king."  From  the  earliest  days 
the  king  had  been  recognized  not  only  as  a  political 
and  military  leader,  but  as  a  judge ;  and  he  was  the 
one  judge  whose  position  gave  him  the  power  of 
enforcing  his  dooms,  for  by  himself  or  by  his  ealdor- 
man  the  whole  military  strength  of  the  kingdom  or 
shire  could  be  called  out  to  bring  a  culprit  to  sub- 
mission. It  was  natural  that  as  the  local  courts 
found  themselves  more  and  more  helpless  against 
the  great  lords  they  should  appeal  to  a  force  before 
which  the  greatest  lords  must  bow;  and  that  the 
baffled  Witan  of  Kent  should  pray  ^thelstan  that 
"  if  any  man  be  so  rich  or  of  so  great  kin  that  he 
cannot  be  punished,  or  will  not  cease  from  his 
WTong-doing,  you  may  settle  how  he  may  be  carried 
away  into  some  other  part  of  your  kingdom,  be  the 
case  whose  it  may,  whether  of  villein  or  thegn."' 
The  extension,  too,  of  thegnhood,  and  the  growth 
of  private  jurisdictions  or  sokes,  exempt  from  the 
common  jurisdiction  of  the  hundred-moot,  gave  a 
new  scope  to  the  justice  of  the  king."  As  such 
private  jurisdictions  grew  more  and  more  frequent, 

^  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  217.  *  Ibid. 

3  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  214,  etc.  "  It  is  probable  that,  except  in  a 
few  special  cases,  the  Sac  and  soc  thus  granted  were,  before  the 
Conquest,  exemptions  from  the  hundred  courts  only,  and  not  from 
those  of  the  shire." 


30        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cjiAP.  I.  they  not  only  weakened  the  older  justice  of  the  peo- 
The     pie,  but  forced  on  the  royal  court  a  large  develop- 

Ec|berht.  Hicnt  of  its  judicial  activity,  if  the  justice  of  the 
lords  was  to  be  hindered  from  passing  into  a  means 
of  extortion  and  tyranny. 
^1"^^^,^  Such  a  development  was  made  easy  by  the  very 
cot%t.  character  of  the  king's  court.  The  English  king 
was  a  great  landowner,  and,  like  other  great  land- 
owners, he  was  driven  from  one  "vill"  to  another 
for  actual  subsistence.  He  was  in  constant  motion ; 
for  payments  were  made  in  kind,  and  it  was  only  by 
moving  from  manor  to  manor  that  he  could  eat  up 
his  rents.  A  Northumbrian  king  had  to  consume  his 
customary  dues  in  one  vill  at  the  foot  of  the  Chevi- 
ots and  in  another  on  the  Don.  A  king  of  Wessex 
had  no  other  means  of  gathering  his  rents  from  his 
demesne  on  the  Exe  or  on  the  Thames.  The  king's 
court,  therefore,  was  really  a  moving  body,  a  little 
army  eating  its  way  from  demesne  to  demense,  but 
with  a  home  in  our  modern  sense  nowhere,  encamp- 
ing at  one  or  another  spot  only  for  so  long  as  the 
rent-in-kind  sufficed,  and  then  after  a  day  or  two 
rolling  onward.  In  the  stories  of  the  time'  we  see 
the  king's  forerunners  pushing  ahead  of  the  train, 
arriving  in  haste  at  the  spot  destined  for  the  next 
halt,  broaching  the  beer-barrels,  setting  the  board, 
slaying  and  cooking  the  kine,  baking  the  bread ;  till 
the  long  company  come  pounding  in  through  the 
muddy  roads — horsemen  and  spearmen,  thegn  and 
noble,  bishop  and  clerk,  the  string  of  sumpter  horses, 

^  See,  for  Ine,  Will.  Malmesbury,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  49;  for 
.^thelstan,  the  Saxon  Life  of  Dunstan  (Memorials  of  Dunstan, 
pp.  17,  iS). 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^i 

the  big  wagons  with  the  royal  hoard  or  the  royal  chap.  i. 
wardrobe,  and  at  last  the  heavy  standard  borne  be-     The 
fore  the  king  himself.     Then  follows  the  rough  jus-'^|be^rhf 
tice-court,  the  hasty  council,  the  huge  banquet,  the 
fires  dying  down  into  the  darkness  of  the  night,  till 
a  fresh  dawn  wakes  the  forerunners  to  seek  a  fresh 
encampment. 

Such  was,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  the  life  of  '^'^^ 
every  great  noble,  and  such,  necessarily,  was  that  of  progress, 
the  king.  But  with  the  growing  consolidation  of 
England  into  a  single  realm  these  movements  took 
a  more  ceremonious  and  political  form.  Custom 
came  to  regulate  the  seeming  disorder  of  the  royal 
progress ;  each  manor,  each  town,  knows  and  makes 
its  customary  payments  in  kind ;  thegn  and  villein 
render  their  customary  service  ;  while  the  royal  clerk 
reads  from  the  custom-roll  and  ticks  off  the  dues 
paid  and  the  service  done.  "  Watching  the  king," 
in  fact,  finding  horses  for  his  journey,  or  boats  for 
his  sail,  guarding  his  person,  supplying  his  larder, 
become  the  customary  tenures  by  which  towns  hold 
their  freedom.  The  progresses  grow  regular  and 
methodical;  men  know  when  their  king  will  be 
among  them,  they  know  where  to  bring  their  suit, 
their  plea,  their  gift  to  him.  As  the  king  moves 
through  forest  and  waste  his  progress  is  a  chase  ;  he 
finds  his  foresters  in  waiting  with  the  villeins  bound 
to  customary  service  in  driving  the  deer.  As  he 
passes  over  the  "king's  highway,"  landlord  and 
thegn  are  called  to  give  account  for  broken  road 
or  broken  bridge.  In  his  rough  justice-court  there 
is  the  appeal  to  be  heard,  the  false  moneyer  to  be 
branded,  the  outlaw  to  be  hanged  at  the  nearest  oak. 


32        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiAP.  I.  The  "  king's  peace  "  is  about  him  as  he  goes ;  his 
The     "  grith,"  the  breach  of  which  no  fine  can  atone  for,' 

Bcgheiht.  spreads  for  a  given  space  around  his  court :  a  double 
"  bot "  and  fine  protects  all  who  are  on  their  way  to 
him ;  if  a  brawler  fight  over  his  cups  in  the  king's 
hall,  he  may  die  at  the  king's  will."  The  court  it- 
self is  no  longer  the  mere  train  of  personal  attend- 
ants which  followed  a  provincial  king;  it  is  a  little 
army  that  needs  its  officers  to  order  and  marshal  it, 
its  chamberlain  to  command  the  household  to  deck 
the  rough  halls  with  courtly  hanging  for  the  king's 
stay,  to  issue  from  the  hoard  the  gold  drinking-cups 
for  the  king's  table,  to  pay  and  command  the  body- 
guard ;  its  staller  to  order  its  movements,  to  direct 
the  horses,  the  sumpter  mules,  the  long  string  of 
wagons,  as  well  as  to  "  park  "  the  vast  encampment 
for  the  night;  its  dish-thegn  and  cup-thegn  to  pro- 
vide the  beeves  and  bread,  the  wines  and  ale,  for  its 
daily  consumption.  The  creation  of  these  great 
officers  of  the  household,  some  of  whom  we  find 
already  existing  in  i^lfred's  time,  was  one  of  the 
most  important  results  of  the  royal  progresses.  But 
a  yet  more  important  result  was  the  impulse  they 
gave  to  the  change  in  our  system  of  justice ;  for  at 
a  time  when  the  public  needs  called  for  a  judicial 
power  which  should  be  strong  enough  to  enforce  its 
doom  upon  noble  and  churl,  and  supreme  alike  over 
folk-moot  and  soke,  the  progresses  of  the  king  car- 
ried such  a  power  into  every  corner  of  the  realm. 

Gro7v//i       The  development,  however,  of  English  justice  was 

kiugship.  but  one  of  the  influences  that  were  telling  through- 

^  -^thelr.  iii. ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  293. 
'  Ine,  sec.  6 ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  107. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        33 

out  the  period  on  the  transformation  of  the  English  chap.  i. 
kingship.  As  England  drew  together  into  its  Three  The 
Kingdoms  the  wider  dominion  of  the  king  removed  Ec|be°iit. 
him  further  and  further  from  his  people,  lifting  him  ' 
higher  and  higher  above  the  nobles,  and  clothing  him 
more  and  more  with  a  mysterious  dignity.  Every 
reign  raised  the  sovereign  in  the  social  scale.  The 
bishop,  once  ranked  equal  with  him  in  value  of  life, 
sank  to  the  level  of  the  ealdorman.  The  ealdor- 
man  himself,  in  earlier  days  the  hereditary  ruler  of 
a  smaller  state,  became  a  mere  delegate  of  the  king. 
The  king,  if  he  was  no  longer  sacred  aS  the  son  of 
Woden,  became  yet  more  sacred  as  "the  Lord's 
Anointed."  By  the  very  fact  of  his  consecration  he 
was  pledged  to  a  religious  rule,  to  justice,  mercy,  and 
good  government ;  but  his  "  hallowing  "  invested  him 
also  with  a  power  drawn  not  from  the  will  of  man,  or 
the  assent  of  his  subjects,  but  from  the  will  of  God. 
Treason  against  him  thus  became  the  worst  of  crimes, 
while  personal  service  at  his  court  was  held  not  to 
degrade,  but  to  ennoble.  The  thegns  of  his  house- 
hold found  themselves  officers  of  state ;  and  the  de- 
velopment of  politics,  the  wider  extension  of  home 
and  foreign  affairs,  gradually  transformed  these  royal 
servants  into  a  standing  council  of  ministry  for  the 
transaction  of  ordinary  administrative  business,  and 
the  reception  of  judicial  appeals. 

The  rise  of  the  royal  power  was  furthered  by  the     J'^^J^^^ 
change  which  passed  at  this  time  over  the  character   and  the 
of  the  English  noble.     Not  only  was  the  character 
of  this  class  profoundly  affected  by  the  consolidation 
of  the  smaller  folks  into  larger  realms,  but  its  whole 
relation  to  the  king  was  radically  changed.     The 

3 


34  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CIUP.I.  superiority  of  the  aetheling  over  the  ceorl  was  a  tra- 
The     ditional  superiority  which  reached  back  to  the  very 

Ecgberht.  infancy  of  the  race,  and  which  consisted  in  an  actual 
difference,  as  both  beheved,  of  blood  and  origin.  The 
tribal  king  was  simply  the  noblest  among  the  sethe- 
lings.  But  with  the  extinction  of  the  smaller  king- 
ships, and  the  subjection  of  both  classes  to  one  of  the 
greater  monarchies,  the  position  of  the  hereditary 
noble  was  changed.  He  was  no  longer  of  the  same 
blood  with  the  king ;  while  the  wider  area  of  the  state, 
and  the  number  of  aethelings  it  necessarily  included 
within  it,  lowered  his  individual  position  and  brought 
hini  nearer  to  the  ceorl.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
being  displaced  from  his  older  position  by  nobles  of 
a  new  and  distinct  class.  Service  with  the  kings,  as 
we  have  seen,  begot  the  class  of  thegns ;  and  while 
the  hereditary  noble  dwindled  with  the  growth  of 
kingship,  the  noble  by  service  necessarily  rose  with 
it.  An  aetheling  of  the  Middle  English  inevitably 
grew  less  and  less  important  as  the  Mercian  king- 
dom widened  its  bounds  from  sea  to  sea,  while  a 
thegn  of  the  Mercian  court  grew  as  inevitably  great- 
er. And  to  the  greatness  that  came  of  his  relation 
to  a  greater  master  the  thegn  added  a  correspond- 
ing superiority  of  wealth.  The  possessions  of  the 
village  noble  might  lift  him  above  his  fellow  vil- 
lager, but  they  could  not  vie  with  the  wide  domains 
which  the  kings  of  the  great  states  carved  out  of 
the  folkland  for  their  thegns.'  The  aethelings  thus 
died  down  into  a  social  class,  while  the  thegns  took 

*  These  grants  had  become  so  frequent  that  even  by  Ine's  time, 
though  some  gesiths  remained  landless,  this  was  exceptional. — 
Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  i8i,  note  3. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        .^ 

their  place  as  a  political  nobility  dependent  on  the  chap.i. 
crown.  The 

A  further  development  of  the  royal  power  sprang  ^|lferht!' 
from  the  changes  wrought  in  the  older  national  in-  ^^ 
stitutions  by  the  disappearance  of  the  tribal  king-  ^vitenage- 
ships  in  the  larger  monarchies  of  the  Three  Kingdoms. 
The  life  of  the  earlier  English  state  was  gathered  up 
in  its  folk-moot.  There,  through  its  representatives 
chosen  in  every  hundred-moot,  the  folk  expressed  and 
exercised  its  own  sovereignty  in  matters  of  justice, 
as  of  peace  and  war.  But  when  the  folk  sank  into 
a  portion  of  a  wider  state,  its  folk-moot  sank  with  it; 
if  it  still  met  it  was  only  to  exercise  one  of  its  older 
functions,  that  of  supreme  justice-court,  while  political 
supremacy  passed  from  it  to  the  court  of  the  far-off 
lord.'  And  as  the  folk-moot  died  down  into  the  later 
shire-moot  or  county  court  the  folk's  influence  on 
government  came  to  an  end.  Folk-moots  of  Surrey- 
men  or  South  Saxons  could  exercise  no  control  over 
a  king  of  Wessex.  Folk-moots  of  Hwiccas  or  North 
Engle  could  bring  no  check  to  bear  on  a  king  of  Mer- 
cia.  Nor  was  the  loss  of  this  influence  made  up  by 
the  control  of  the  nobler  class.  Beside  the  folk-moot, 
and  acting  with  it,  had  stood  the  Witenagemot,  the  » 

group  of  aethelings  gathered  to  give  rede  to  the  king, 
and  through  him  to  propose  a  course  of  action  to  the 
folk.  On  these  the  growth  of  the  monarchies  did 
not  tell  as  directly  as  on  the  folk-moot.  Nobles  could 
still  gather  about  the  king ;  and  while  the  folk-moot 
passes  out  of  political  notice,  the  Witenagemot  is 
heard  of  more  and  more  as  a  royal  council.  But  if 
the  name  remained,  the  meeting  itself  became  a  whol- 
'  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  !4o,  141. 


^6        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  ly  different  one.     The  decline  in  the  class  of  aethe- 
The     lings,  their  displacement  by  the  thegn,  would  alone 

^bwht  have  altered  its  character.  The  distance  of  the  king 
from  the  nobles'  homes,  as  the  lesser  realms  were 
gathered  into  the  Three  Kingdoms,  altered  it  yet 
more.  When  a  West-Saxon  king  called  his  Witan 
to  Exeter  he  probably  expected  few  thegns  from  Sus- 
sex or  Kent.  When  he  called  them  to  Kent  he  can 
hardly  have  seen  many  from  Cornwall  or  the  Defn- 
saetan.  From  the  opening  of  the  age  of  consolida- 
tion, therefore,  the  Witenagemot  naturally  changed 
into  a  mere  gathering  of  bishops  and  great  ealdormen, 
as  well  as  of  the  royal  thegns  in  service  at  the  court ;' 
and  it  retained  this  form  under  the  kings  of  a  single 
England,  with  just  such  an  increase  of  numbers  as 
necessarily  resulted  from  the  welding  of  the  three 
realms  into  one.  The  seventeen  bishops  of  the  Eng- 
lish sees,  about  an  equal  number  of  ealdormen,  whom 
we  may  again  presume  to  be  actual  rulers  of  the  va- 
rious folks  and  under-kingdoms,  a  few  abbots,  and 
some  fifty  or  sixty  nobles  and  thegns,  comprised  the 
list  at  its  fullest.  But  the  usual  gatherings  hardly 
exceed  in  number  those  of  Offa's  court;  and  even 
under  later  kings,  such  as  Eadgar,  the  usual  Wite- 
nagemots  number  some  nine  prelates,  five  ealdor- 
men, and  fifteen  thegns." 

Such  a  council  might  in  many  ways  reflect  the 

^  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  146.  The  Witenagemot  that  gathered 
round  such  a  king  as  Offa  consisted  only  of  the  five  bishops  of  the 
Mercian  kingdom,  of  the  five  or  six  ealdormen  who  may  have  ruled 
over  the  older  kingdoms  or  folks  that  were  included  within  it,  and 
of  some  ten  or  a  dozen  thegns,  who  probably  held  high  offices  in 
the  royal  household. 

^  See,  for  the  whole  of  this  subject,  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  cap.  vi. 


m 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  \j^/»i7  '  '^T 

national  temper,  but  it  was  in  no  sense  a  represemfes^:«Ss=c^ 
tive  of  the  nation.     On  occasions  of  peculiar  solem-     The 
nity  indeed,  such  as  that  of  a  coronation  or  the  pro-  Ec|beriit. 
mulgation  of  a  code  of  laws,  the  old  theory  of  a  folk-     ~J~ 
moot  ratifying  the  decisions  of  the  Witan  and  the  character. 
king  rose  again  into  life,  and  the  retinues  in   the 
train  of  noble  and  prelate  represented  by  their  shouts 
of  "  Aye,  aye,"  the  assent  of  the  collective  freemen. 
But  such  an  assent  was  a  mere  survival  of  the  past ; 
in  practice  it  was  an  empty  form,  and  the  occasions 
on  which  it  was  called  for  were  rare  and  exceptional.' 
In  ordinary  times  the  Witenagemot  was  little  more 
than  a  royal  council,  whose  members  were  named 
and  summoned  by  the  king,''  and  which  widened  now 
and  then  into  aristocratic  assemblies  that  foreshad- 
owed the  "  Great  Council "  of  the  later  Baronage. 

That  the  movement  towards  national  consolidation  '^J}^  '^/'^^^ 

Kingdems. 

should  have  stopped  so  long  at  the  creation  of  the 
Three  Kingdoms  is  one  of  the  problems  of  our  early 
history.  But  as  the  eighth  century  drew  to  its  close 
the  internal  conditions  of  these  states,  and  their  re- 
lations to  one  another,  showed  that  the  long-delayed 
revolution  was  near  at  hand.  The  most  prominent 
cause  of  the  break-up  of  the  political  system  of  the 

*  The  decisions  of  one  of  ^thelstan's  Witenagemots  are  made  in 
common  with  "  tota  populi  generalitate."  —  Cod.  Dip.  364.  But 
"  that  such  gatherings  shared  in  any  way  the  constitutional  powers 
of  the  Vl^itan,  that  they  were  organized  in  any  way  corresponding 
to  the  machinery  of  the  folk-moot,  that  they  had  any  representative 
character,  in  the  modern  sense,  as  having  full  powers  to  act  on  be- 
half of  constituents,  that  they  shared  the  judicial  work,  or,  except 
by  applause  and  hooting,  influenced  the  decisions  of  the  chiefs,  there 
is  no  evidence  whatever." — Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  142. 

"  ^thelstan  speaks  of  the  Witan  at  his  great  meetings  as  "  Witan 
whom  the  king  himself  has  named." — Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  241. 


38        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  Three  Kingdoms  was  one  that  had  already  told  fatally 
The      on  the  lesser  kingships.     In  the  earlier  life  of  the 

Ecfbe^ht.  English  peoples,  political  individuality  found  its  cen- 
tre  and  representative  in  their  royal  stocks,  and  the 
number  of  the  separate  folks  was  shown  in  the  num- 
ber of  their  kings.  Kent  and  Sussex  found  room  for 
at  least  two  in  each  realm ;  East  Anglia  and  Wessex 
seem  at  times  to  have  had  many ;  there  were  sepa- 
rate royal  stocks  for  peoples  like  the  Hecanas  and 
Hwiccas,  or  the  South  Mercians  and  Middle  Engle. 
It  was  only  through  the  extinction  or  degradation  of 
these  kingly  families  that  national  union  was  possi- 
ble ;  and  it  is  as  a  main  step  in  bringing  this  about 
that  the  formation  of  the  larger  states  during  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries  is  so  important  in  our 
history.  With  the  gradual  extension  of  the  Three 
Kingdoms  the  bulk  of  the  smaller  kingships  disap- 
peared.' Some  kings  lingered  on  for  a  time  as  un- 
der-kings  ;  some  sank  into  ealdormen,  who  drew  their 
power  from  the  appointment  of  the  conquering  over- 
lord ;  some,  no  doubt,  perished  altogether  with  the 
chances  of  time  and  of  war."  But  a  new  period  be- 
gan from  the  moment  that  the  extinction  of  the  roy- 
al stocks  told  on  the  Three  Kingdoms  themselves. 
Northumbria  was  no  longer  the  formidable  king- 
dom which  we  have  seen  carrying  its  arms  to  the 
Clyde  in  the  days  of  Eadberht.     The  withdrawal  of 

'  Thus  the  Lindsey  kings  were  extinct  before  678,  when  their  land 
was  disputed  between  Mercia  and  Northumbria ;  nor  do  we  hear 
of  any  Middle-English  king  after  Peada.  The  stock  of  Deira  ended 
with  Oswini.  The  kings  of  Sussex  are  not  heard  of  after  its  con- 
quest by  Ecgberht,  nor  those  of  Wight  after  its  conquest  by  Cead- 
walla. 

'  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  198,  etc. 


Northutn 
bria. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        3^ 

that  king  to  a  cloister  had  been  the  close  of  its  great-  chap.  i. 
ness,  for  after  a  year's  reign  his  son  Oswulf  was  slain  The 
by  the  thegns  of  his  household/  and  with  his  death  ]S|bwht 
peace  and  order  seem  to  have  come  utterly  to  an  end. 
Oswulf  was,  in  fact,  the  last  undisputed  representative 
of  the  royal  line  of  Bernicia.  The  kingly  house  fell 
with  him,  and  from  this  moment  a  strife  for  the  crown 
absorbed  the  whole  energy  of  Northumbria.  The 
throne  was  seized  by  ^^thelwold  Moll  f  and  a  victo- 
ry over  his  opponents  at  the  Eildon  Hills,  near  Mel- 
rose, so  strengthened  his  power  that  Offa,  just  settled 
in  Mercia,  gave  him  his  daughter  to  wife.  But  after 
six  years  of  rule  -^thelwold  Moll  lost  his  kingdom 
in  a  fight  at  Winchanheale  in  765  f  and  his  place 
was  taken  by  another  claimant,  Alchred.*  The  his- 
tory of  Northumbria  became  from  this  hour  a  mere 
strife  between  these  rivals  and  their  houses.  Al- 
chred,  victorious  over  two  risings  under  ealdormen,' 
was  driven  in  774  to  take  refuge  among  the  Picts  by 
i^thelred,  the  son  of  i^thelwold ;  but  after  four  years 
of  strife  yEthelred  followed  his  rival  into  exile,  and 
his  successor,  Alfwold  "  the  son  of  Oswulf,"  interrupts 
for  nine  years,  from  779  to  y88,  the  rule  of  the  war- 
ring houses.  Alfwold's  reign,  however,  was  as  stormy 
as  the  rest.  In  one  rising  an  ealdorman  was  "  burnt " 
by  two  of  his  fellow-ealdormen,  and  in  y88  another 
ealdorman  rose  and  slew  the  king."     With  his  slay- 

*  "  Occisus  ...  a  sua  familia." — Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  758. 

■^  Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  759.       ^  Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  765. 

*  Alchred  claimed  descent  from  Ida  through  Bleacmann. — Flor. 
Wore.  a.  765 ;  but  Simeon  adds  "  ut  quidam  dicunt." — Gest.  Reg. 
a.  765.  ^thelwold's  descent  was  even  more  doubtful:  "of  uncer- 
tain descent."  '  Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  774. 

«  Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  788. 


40  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  ing  the  two  houses  again  came  to  the  front ;  for  two 
The     years  Alchred's  son,  Osred,  occupied  the  throne; 

^fberht.  and  on  his  flight/  in  face  of  a  revolt  of  his  ealdor- 
men,  the  son  of  ^thelwold  Moll,  ^^thelred,  was 
again  recalled  to  the  kingdom,  after  eleven  years  of 
exile. 
Aicuin.  y^thelred  shrank  from  no  blood-shedding  to  secure 
his  throne.  The  two  children  of  his  predecessor  were 
drawn  by  false  oaths  from  their  sanctuary  at  York 
to  be  slain  at  his  bidding,"  and  Osred,  who  was  drawn 
by  like  pledges  from  Man,  found  a  like  doom.  For 
a  while  this  ruthlessness  seems  to  have  succeeded  in 
producing  some  sort  of  peace ;  but  the  long  anarchy 
of  thirty  years  had  left  the  land  a  mere  chaos  of 
bloodshed  and  misrule,  and  all  that  saved  it  from 
utter  ruin  was  the  wide  extension  of  its  ecclesiasti- 
cal domains.  The  waste  and  bloodshed  of  its  civil 
wars  stopped  short  at  the  bounds  of  the  vast  posses- 
sions which  had  been  granted  to  its  churches,  the 
privilege  of  sanctuary  which  they  enjoyed  gave  shel- 
ter to  the  victims  of  the  strife,  and  the  learning  and 
culture  of  Baeda  and  of  Archbishop  Ecgberht  still 
found  untroubled  homes  at  Jarrow  or  York.  Its  in- 
tellectual life  was  thus  able  to  go  on  amidst  the  wreck 
of  its  political  life ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  anarchy 
a  scholar  passed  from  the  schools  of  Northumbria 
to  become  the  literary  centre  of  the  west.  Born 
about  735,  within  the  walls  of  York,  Aicuin  had 
reached  early  manhood  at  the  retirement  of  Eadberht 
from  the  throne.'     He  had  been  intrusted,  like  other 

^  Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  792.  '  Ibid. 

'  For  Aicuin,  see  article  on  him  by  Stubbs  in  Diet.  Christ.  Biogr. 
vol.  i.  p.  73- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


41 


noble  youths,  to  Archbishop  Ecgberht  in  his  boy-  chap.i. 
hood,  and  was  placed  under  the  schoolmaster  JEih-  The 
elberht,  who  followed  Ecgberht  in  his  see  on  his  Ecfberiit 
death.  In  766,  when  Alchred  had  just  mounted  the 
throne,  he  seems  to  have  accompanied  ^thelberht 
on  a  journey  to  Rome,  and  some  time  after  his  re- 
turn himself  took  charge  of  the  school  of  York.  The 
years  of  his  teaching  there,  from  767  to  780,  were 
the  age  of  its  greatest  fame  and  influence  ;'  so  strange- 
ly, in  fact,  was  the  Church  isolated  from  the  secular 
fortunes  of  the  realm  about  it,  that  amidst  the  grow- 
ing anarchy  of  Northumbria  not  only  scholars  from 
every  part  of  Britain,  but  even  from  Germany  and 
Gaul,  are  said  to  have  crowded  to  Alcuin's  lecture- 
room,  while  his  friend.  Archbishop  -^thelberht,  was 
busy  in  building  a  new  and  more  sumptuous  church 
at  York,  as  well  as  in  journeys  to  Rome,  in  which  he 
could  gather  books  for  its  library. 

It  was  on  his  return  from  a  journey  to  get  the  pal- 
lium for  ^thelberht's  successor,  in  781,  that  Alcuin, 
now  the  most  famous  of  European  scholars,  met 
Charles  the  Great  at  Parma,  and  was  drawn  by  him 
from  his  work  in  Britain  to  the  wider  work  of  spread- 
ing intellectual  life  among  the  Franks.  But  though 
his  home  was  now  in  a  strange  land,  Alcuin's  heart 
still  clave  to  his  own  Northumbria.  The  news  of 
its  fresh  disorder,  and  the  slaying  of  Alfwold  in  yS8, 
drew  from  him  prayer  after  prayer  to  Charles  for 
leave  to  revisit  his  country ;  and  in  790,  soon  after 

^  "  Eo  tempore  in  Eboraica  civitate  famosus  merito  scholam 
magister  Alchuinus  tenebat,  undecumque  ad  se  confluentibus  de 
magna  sua  scientia  communicans." — Vit.  S.  Liudgeri,  quoted  by 
Lingard,  Anglo-Saxon  Church,  vol.  ii.  p.  203. 


42        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  the  recall  of  ^thelred  Moll  to  the  throne,  he  seems 
The     to  have  returned  to  the  north  of  Britain.     If  so,  he 

Eclbwht  must  have  witnessed  the  bloody  deeds  by  which 
^thelred  strove  to  secure  his  crown ;  and  we  cannot 
wonder  at  his  finding  omens  of  ill  in  "  that  rain  of 
blood  which,"  as  he  wrote  after  his  departure  to  the 
king, "  we  saw  in  Lent,  at  a  time  when  the  sky  was 
calm  and  cloudless,  fall  from  the  lofty  roof  of  the 
northern  aisle  of  the  church  of  York." '  But  he  could 
hardly  have  dreamed  how  fatally  the  omen  was  to  be 
fulfilled  by  the  first  descent  of  the  Northmen,  only  a 
few  months  after  his  return  to  Gaul.  Their  incursion 
again  roused  civil  strife.  In  the  spring  of  796  King 
i^thelred  was  slain,  and  whatever  was  now  the  con- 
nection of  the  Northumbrian  with  the  Prankish  court, 
the  wrath  of  Charles  against  a  race  whom  he  de- 
nounced as  "  murderers  of  their  lords  "  was  hardly  al- 
layed by  Alcuin's  intercession."  All  cause  of  inter- 
vention, however,  was  removed  by  the  accession  of 
Eardwulf,  who  succeeded  in  restoring  order  for  the 
next  ten  years ; '  but  with  the  death  of  Eardwulf, 
in  806,  the  northern  kingdom  vanishes  from  history 
till  its  submission  to  Ecgberht,  seventeen  years  later." 

Mercta.  Brokcu,  indeed,  by  ceaseless  strife,  Northumbria 
was  ready  to  fall  before  a  conqueror's  sword.  But 
no  such  doom  seemed  to  threaten  Mercia.     In  Mer- 


'  Ale.  Op.  (Migne),  pt.  i.  epist.  xiii. 

"  Haddan  and  Stiibbs,  Councils,  iii.  498. 

^  Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  796. 

*  In  his  Gesta  Regum,  Simeon  of  Durham  practically  ceases  at 
803 ;  there  are  two  ecclesiastical  entries  in  830  and  846,  then  from 
849  the  chronicle  is  for  some  time  wholly  drawn  from  southern 
sources,  and  without  reference  to  the  north.  In  his  Historia  de 
Dunelmensi  Ecclesia,  there  is  a  like  gap  between  793  and  867. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^^ 

cia  the  royal  stock  went  on  unchallenged.  No  civil  chap.  i. 
war  disturbed  the  rule  of  Offa  or  of  Cenwulf.  No  The 
foreign  ruler  dared  to  threaten  the  Middle  Kingdom  E^be^ht 
as  Charles  had  threatened  the  North.  As  the  eighth 
century  drew  to  its  close,  indeed,  Mercia  seemed 
destined  rather  to  absorb  its  fellow  states  than  to  be 
absorbed  by  either  of  them.  Northumbria  was  torn 
by  anarchy.  Wessex  lay  almost  hidden  from  sight 
behind  the  forest-screen  of  the  Andredsweald.  All 
that  the  outer  world  saw  of  Britain  was  the  realm  of 
the  Mercian  kings.  From  Dover  to  the  Ribble,  from 
Bath  to  the  Humber,  the  great  mass  of  the  island 
submitted  to  their  sway ;  and  to  the  Prankish  court 
the  lord  of  this  vast  domain  was  already  "  king  of  the 
English."  The  ability  of  Offa  and  Cenwulf  as  rulers, 
as  well  as  the  length  of  their  reigns,  heightened  the 
impression  of  Mercian  strength.  But,  even  at  the 
summit  of  their  power,  a  close  observer  might  have 
seen  the  inherent  weakness  of  the  structure  they  had 
built  up.  The  kingdom,  in  fact,  was  held  together 
simply  by  the  sword.  It  stretched  from  sea  to  sea ; 
but  both  on  the  eastern  and  the  western  coast  its 
subject-provinces  only  waited  the  hour  of  trial  to  turn 
against  it.  The  Welsh  of  North  Wales  were  ready 
to  rise  at  any  moment.  Kent,  a  possession  essential 
to  the  communication  of  Mercia  with  the  western 
world,  had  risen  against  Offa  and  again  risen  against 
Cenwulf  The  East  Anglians  were  now  preparing 
to  renew  the  strife  which  they  had  waged  for  centu- 
ries against  the  western  Engle.  And  within  Mercia 
itself  there  seems  to  have  been  little  of  that  admin- 
istrative organization  which  might  have  compensated 
for  the  hostility  of  its  dependencies.     The  existence 


44        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  of  five  great  ealdormen  seems  to  point  to  a  perpet- 
The      uation  of  the  purely  local  government  in  the  prov- 

^fbwht  inces  which  made  up  the  central  realm.  It  was 
characteristic,  indeed,  of  the  looseness  of  its  political 
structure  that  Mercia  had  no  marked  centre  of  gov- 
ernment. Northumbria  found  a  centre  at  York. 
Wessex  recognized  its  royal  town  in  Winchester. 
But  Tamworth  was  simply  a  royal  vill  at  which  the 
Mercian  kings  dwelt  more  frequently  than  elsewhere. 
Mercia,  in  fact,  owed  its  greatness  wholly  to  the  char- 
acter of  its  individual  kings.  A  single  defeat  under 
^thelbald  had  already  revealed  its  inherent  weak- 
ness ;  and  the  same  revelation  was  to  follow  its  later 
defeat  under  Beorhtwulf. 

iVessex.  Wcsscx,  OH  the  Other  hand,  smaller  as  was  its  area 
and  later  as  was  its  development  than  that  of  its  fel- 
low-kingdoms, had  a  vigor  and  compactness  which 
neither  of  them  possessed.  Its  military  strength  was 
really  greater  than  theirs.  From  the  first  moment 
of  their  descent  upon  Britain  the  Gewissas  had  seized 
a  region  of  surpassing  military  value.  The  Gwent 
was  a  natural  fortress,  backed  by  the  sea,  screened 
from  attack  on  either  side  by  impassable  woodlands, 
by  Selwood  and  the  Andredsweald,  and  presenting 
along  its  front  two  parallel  lines  of  heights,  whose 
steep  escarpments  rose  like  walls  in  face  of  any  as- 
sailants. Their  main  settlement,  Winchester,  lay  in 
the  centre  of  this  region  ;  and  a  series  of  roads  which 
diverged  from  it  carried  forces  easily  to  any  threat- 
ened point  of  the  border.  However  Wessex  might 
grow,  the  Gwent  remained  its  heart  and  centre ;  and 
the  inaccessibility  of  the  Gwent  was  shown  by  its 
security  from  any  inroad  till  the  coming  of  the  Danes. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^c 

Northumbrian  hosts  might  pour  over  Mid-Britain,  chap,  i. 
or  Mercian  hosts  carry  their  ravages  over  North-  The 
umbria,  but  neither  Mercian  nor  Northumbrian  ever^gbertit 
appeared  before  Winchester.  The  bulk  of  the  West- 
Saxon  fights  were  fought  in  the  district  over  Thames ; 
and  if  invaders  threatened  the  Gwent  itself  it  was 
only,  like  Ceolric,  to  be  thrown  back  discomfited  from 
the  steeps  of  Wanborough.  Even  Wulfhere,  after  a 
great  victory,  could  penetrate  no  farther  into  Wessex 
than  the  same  steep  of  Ashdown.  The  varied  com- 
position of  Ecgberht's  kingdom,  instead  of  proving 
a  source  of  weakness,  was  itself  a  source  of  strength. 
Its  centre  was  the  older  Wessex  we  have  described, 
the  region  between  the  Andredsweald  and  the  Sel- 
wood ;  a  district  of  purely  English  blood  grouped 
round  a  single  political  and  religious  centre  at  Win- 
chester. To  the  west  lay  the  newer  Wessex,  a  tract 
which,  indeed,  found  a  single  ecclesiastical  centre  in 
Sherborne,  but  where  Welsh  and  English  blood  min- 
gled in  the  veins  of  the  population,  and  in  which 
the  ethnological  character  varied  from  the  English 
element  dominant  along  the  skirts  of  Selwood  to  the 
wholly  Celtic  life  of  the  western  Dyvnaint.  But  this 
newer  Wessex  was  even  more  West-Saxon  in  tem- 
per than  the  Wessex  of  the  Gwent.  The  slowness  of 
its  conquest,  the  gradual  settlement  of  the  conquer- 
ors over  its  soil,  had  bound  it  firmly  to  the  house  of 
Cerdic,  and  utterly  obliterated  its  Celtic  traditions. 
And,  besides  this,  the  two  portions  were  knit  togeth- 
er by  an  administrative  order  which  was  hardly  known 
elsewhere.  Our  ignorance  of  the  early  history  of 
Wessex  leaves  us  no  means  of  tracing  the  origin  of 
this  order,  but  in  Ecgberht's  day,  at  least,  it  was  firm- 


Eurrlaud. 


46        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  I.  ly  established.  Every  folk-district  in  the  realm  was 
The     placed  in  the  hands  of  a  single  ealdorman,  an  officer 

EclbTrht  who,  by  this  time,  must  have  been  of  royal  appoint- 
ment,  and  who  was  above  all  the  leader  of  its  local 
force  or  "  fyrd."  It  is  through  the  mention  of  these 
officers  that  we  see  that  Wessex  was,  by  this  time  at 
any  rate,  parted  into  the  administrative  divisions  that 
it  still  retains,  and  that  the  Somer-saetan,  the  Defn- 
saetan,  and  the  Dor-saetan  had  their  defined  dis- 
tricts one  side  the  Selwood,  as  the  settlers  in  the 
"  Bearroc-wood,"  the  Wil-saetan,  and  the  original 
Gewissas  in  their  tract  about  Hampton  had  on  the 
other. 

mldu  s  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^  political  and  administrative  superiority, 
atid  ^  even  more  than  its  military  vigor,  which  so  sudden- 
ly set  Wessex  at  the  head  of  the  English  states  and 
gave  into  its  hands  the  work  of  consolidating  the 
English  peoples.  In  Ecgberht's  day,  however,  that 
work  had  hardly  begun.  Though  every  one  of  its 
states  had  submitted  to  his  sway,'  Ecgberht  had  not 
becorhe  a  King  of  England.  He  had  not  even  be- 
come King  of  the  Mercians,  of  the  East  Angles,  or 
of  the  Northumbrians.  It  was  not  till  Alfred's  day, 
a  hundred  years  later,  that  a  King  of  Wessex  could 
call  himself  also  King  of  the  Mercians ;  it  was  not 
till  ^thelstan  that  the  ruler  who  was  at  once  King 
of  the  West  Saxons  and  King  of  the  Mercians  could 
add  to  his  title  that  of  King  of  the  Northumbrians. 
Even  then  the  bond  which  united  the  Three  King- 
doms was  but  the  personal  bond  of  their  allegiance 
to  the  same  ruler ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  close  of 
Eadgar's  reign  that  the  genius  of  Dunstan  dared  to 

*  See  Making  of  England,  cap.  viii.— (A.  S.  G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^^ 

create  an  England  and  to  crown  the  lord  of  the  three  chap.  i. 
realms  as  its  national  king.  But  these  things  were  The 
far  off  in  Ecgberht's  time.  His  conquests  had  given  ^|lfe^ht.^ 
him  a  supremacy  over  his  fellow-kings,  by  which  they 
and  their  peoples  were  bound  to  pay  him  tribute  and 
to  follow  him  in  war.  But  their  life  remained  in  all 
other  matters  as  independent  as  before.  In  spite 
of  submission  and  tribute,  Northumbria  seems  to 
have  remained  almost  wholly  detached  from  its  over- 
lords. Rival  claimants  for  its  throne  fought  on  as 
of  old,  unhindered  by  any  interference  from  the  south, 
and  the  successors  of  Ecgberht  made  not  a  single 
effort  to  rescue  it  from  the  Dane.  East  Anglia  re- 
mained under  its  old  line  of  kings,  almost  as  iso- 
lated as  Northumbria  from  Wessex,  and  equally  un- 
aided by  it  in  the  coming  struggle.  Mercia  itself, 
broken  as  it  was  by  defeat  after  defeat,  was  far  from 
passing  into  a  mere  province  of  the  West-Saxon 
realm ;  it  retained  its  old  national  life-  as  it  retained 
its  bounds,  and  though  Ecgberht  drove  its  king 
Wiglaf  from  his  throne,  he  was  forced,  after  three 
years  of  struggle,  to  replace  him  on  it.  Even  in  later 
years  it  was  by  ties  of  blood  and  wedlock,  rather 
than  by  more  direct  bonds  of  subjection,  that  the 
policy  of  Wessex  strove  to  bring  the  Midland  realm 
beneath  its  sway.  It  was,  in  fact,  only  by  long  and 
patient  effort  that  this  vague  supremacy  of  the  West- 
Saxon  kings  could  have  been  developed  into  a  na- 
tional sovereignty,  and  the  effort  after  such  a  sov- 
ereignty had  hardly  begun  when  it  was  suddenly 
broken  by  the  coming  of  the  Danes. 


CHAPTER   11. 

THE   COMING   OF   THE   WIRINGS. 
82^858. 

The  first  In  the  days  of  Beorhtric  of  Wessex,  while  Off  a 
"  '  was  still  ruling  in  Mercia,  and  Ecgberht  an  exile  at 
the  court  of  Charles,  "  in  the  year  787,  came  three 
ships  "  to  the  West-Saxon  shores,  "  and  then  the 
reeve  rode  thereto,  and  would  force  them  to  go  to 
the  king's  tun,  for  that  he  knew  not  what  they  were ; 
and  they  slew  folk." '  Two  hundred  years  later,  in 
the  midst  of  the  long  warfare  which  opened  with  the 
landing  of  the  pirate-band,  the  memory  of  that  first 
warning  of  danger  was  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of 
men.  "  Suddenly,"  ran  the  later  tradition  preserved 
in  the  royal  West-Saxon  house,  "  there  came  a  Dan- 
ish fleet,  not  very  alarming,  consisting  of  three  long 
ships,  and  this  was  their  first  coming.     When  this 

*  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  787,  which  adds,  "  These  were  the  first 
ships  of  Danish  men  that  sought  land  of  Engle-folk."  Munch, 
however  (Det  Norske  Folks  Historic,  German  trans,  by  Claussen, 
pt.  iv.  p.  186),  points  out  that  this  entry  dates  at  earliest  from  891, 
when  the  Danes  were  really  the  assailants  of  Britain,  and  that  a 
more  contemporary  entry  may  be  found  in  the  late  Canterbury 
Chronicle  (F),  where  the  ships  are  called  "of  Northmen  from  Here- 
tha-land."  "  It  is  a  strong  testimony  to  the  age  of  this  account  that 
the  Wikings  are  called  Northmen,  for  this  name  was  lost  in  England 
earlier  than  elsewhere."  "The  so-called  Heretha-land,"  he  adds. 
"  from  which  these  Northmen  came,  can  be  none  other  than  Harde- 
land,  or  Hardesyssel,  in  Jutland,  for  from  Hordeland  in  Norway  no 
descents  upon  England  had  taken  place  at  this  time." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^g 

came  to  the  ears  of  the  king's  reeve,  who  was  then  chap.  h. 
in  the  tun  which  is  called  Dorchester,  he  mounted     The 
his  horse  and  with  a  few  men  hastened  to  the  port,    oTth? 
thinking  they  were  merchants  rather  than  enemies,  ^^^°g°- 
and  addressing  them  with  authority  ordered  them  to  829-858. 
be  carried  to  the  king's  tun ;  and  by  them  he  and 
those  who  were  with  him  were  there  slain.     Now 
the  name  of  this   reeve  was  Beaduheard." '     Soon 
there  were  few  tun-reeves  who  knew  not  what  these 
strangers  were,  for  six  years  later,  in  793,  their  pirate- 
boats    were   ravaging   the    coast    of    Northumbria, 
plundering  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne  and  mur- 
dering its  monks ; '  and  in  794  they  entered  the 
Wear  to  pillage  and  burn  the  houses  of  Wearmouth 
and  J  arrow.     ''He  who  can  hear  of  this  calamity,'* 
wrote  Alcuin,  as  the  news  reached  him  in  Gaul  of 
the  ruin  of  the  houses  which  enshrined  within  them 
the  religious  history  of  Northumbria,  the  houses  of 
Aidan  and  Cuthberht,  of  Benedict   Biscop  and  of 
Baeda — "  he  who  can  hear  of  this  calamity  and  not 
cry  to  God  on  behalf  of  his  country,  has  a  heart  not 
of  flesh,  but  of  stone." ' 

The  descent  of  the  three  strange  ships  did,  in  fact,  ^^^'^^»- 
herald  a  new  conquest  of  Britain.     It  was  but  the  England. 
beginning  of  a  strife  which  was  to  last  unbroken  till 
the  final  triumph  of  the  Norman  conqueror.     For 
nearly  a  hundred  years  to  come  the  shores  of  Eng- 
land were  harried  and  its  folk  slain  by  successors  of 

these  northern  pirates,  till  their  scattered  plunder- 

, . i^^ 

*  ^thelweard.  a.  'jZy  ^thelweard  was  a  descendant  of  ^thelred 
L,  an^probably  the  ealdorman  of  the  W^estern  Provinces  in  the 
reign  of  ^thelred  II.  "  Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  793,  794. 

^  Alcuin  Op.  (Migne),  pt.  i.  epist.  xi. 

4 


50        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  II.  raids  were  merged  in  the  more  organized  attack  of 

The     the  Danish  sea-kings.     The  conquests  of  Ivar  and 

om?   Guthrum  and  Halfdene  in  the  days  of  Alfred  were, 

wikings.  j^  their  turn,  but  the  prelude  to  the  bowing  of  all 

829-858.  England  to  a  foreign  rule  under  Swein  and  Cnut. 
But  in  the  end  the  fruit  of  the  long  attack  slipped 
from  Danish  hands.  The  harvest,  indeed,  was  reaped, 
but  it  was  reaped  by  Northmen  who  had  ceased,  even 
in  tongue,  to  be  Northmen  at  all.  Not  the  Danes  of 
Denmark,  but  the  Danes  of  Rouen,  of  Caen,  of  Bay- 
eux,  became  lords  of  the  realm  of  ^^  If  red  and  Ead- 
gar.  It  was  the  sword  of  the  Normans  which  drove 
for  the  last  time  from  English  shores  the  fleet  of 
the  Danes. 

,,  '^^^         The  new  assailants  announced  themselves  as  men 

Northern 

peoples,  of  the  north,  men  from  the  lands  beyond  the  Baltic ; 
but  this  told  Englishmen  nothing.  Though  the 
Jutes  who  had  shared  in  the  conquest  of  Britain 
had  been  at  least  akin  in  blood  with  the  dwellers  oii> 
either  side  the  Cattegat,  their  work  had  soon  come 
to  an  end,  and  with  it  had  ended,  for  centuries,  all 
contact  of  the  men  of  the  north  with  Englishmen. 
It  was  not  till  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  that 
dim  news  of  heathen  nations  across  the  Baltic  came 
from  English  missionaries  who  were  toiling  among 
the  Saxons  of  the  Elbe,  and  an  English  poet,  it  may 
be  an  English  mission-priest  in  the  older  home  of 
his  race,  wove  fragments  of  northern  sagas  into  his 
Christianized  version  of  the  song  of  Beowulf.  But 
to  the  bulk  of  Englishmen,  as  to  the  rest  of  Christen- 
dom, these  peoples  remained  almost  unknown.  Their 
life  had,  indeed,  till  now,  been  necessarily  a  home 
life ;  for,  instead  of  fighting  and  mingling  with  the 


I 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^i 

world  about  them,  they  had  had  to  battle  for  sheer  chap.  n. 
existence  with  the  stern  winter,  the  barren  soil,  the     The 
stormy  seas  of  the  north.     While  Britain  was  pass-    oni^* 
ing  through  the  ages  of  her  conquest,  her  settle-  "Wikings. 
ment,  her  religious  and  political  reorganization,  the  829-858. 
Swede  was  hewing  his  way  into  the  dense  pine- 
forests  that  stretched  like  a  sea  of  woodland  be- 
tween the  bleak  moorlands  and  wide  lakes  of  his 
father-land,'  the  Dane  was  finding  a  home  in  the 
reaches  of  birch-wood  and  beech-wood  that  covered 
the  flat  isles  of  the  Baltic,  and  the  Norwegian  was 
winning  field  and  farm  from  the  steep  slopes  of  his 
narrow  fiords. 

It  was  this  hard  strusfSfle  for  life  that  left  its  stamp  "^^^'^^^ 
to  the  last  on  the  temper  of  the  Scandinavian  peo- 
ples. The  very  might  of  the  forces  with  which  they 
battled  gave  a  grandeur  to  their  resistance.  It  was 
to  the  sense  of  human  power  that  woke  as  the  fisher- 
boat  rode  out  the  storm,  as  the  hunter  ploughed  his 
lonely  way  through  the  blinding  snow-drift,  as  the 
husbandman  waged    his   dogged  warfare  with  un- 

^  Olaf,  King  Ingiald's  son,  went  westward  with  his  men  "  to  a 
river  which  comes  from  the  north  and  falls  into  the  Venner  Lake, 
and  is  called  Klar  River.  There  they  set  themselves  down,  turned 
to  and  cleared  the  woods,  burned,  and  then  settled  there.  .  .  .  Now, 
when  it  was  told  of  Olaf  in  Sweden  that  he  was  clearing  the  forests, 
they  laughed  at  his  doings,  and  called  him  the  Tree-feller  "  (Olaf 
Traetelgia).  —  Ynglinga  Saga,  c,  46,  in  Laing's  translation  of  the 
Heimskringla  (Sea  Kings  of  Norway),  i.  255.  So  of  an  earlier  king, 
Onund,  "  Sweden  is  a  great  forest  land,  and  there  are  such  great 
uninhabited  forests  in  it  that  it  is  a  journey  of  many  days  to  cross 
them,  Onund  bestowed  great  pains  and  cost  in  clearing  the  woods 
and  tilling  the  cleared  land.  .  .  .  Onund  had  roads  made  through 
all  Sweden,  both  over  morasses  and  mountains :  and  he  was  there- 
fore called  Onund  Road-maker  "  (Braut-Anund). — Ynglinga  Saga, 
c.  37,  Laing,  i.  247. 


-2        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^ii.  kindly  seasons  and  barren  fields,  that  these  men 
The  owed  their  indomitable  energy,  their  daring  self-reli- 
oTth?  ance,  their  readiness  to  face  overwhelming  odds, 
wikings.  their  slowness  to  believe  themselves  beaten.  He 
829-858.  who  would  win  good  fame,  said  an  old  law,  must 
hold  his  own  against  two  foes  and  even  against 
three ;  it  is  only  from  four  that  he  may  fly  without 
shame.  Courage,  indeed,  was  a  heritage  of  the 
whole  German  race,  but  none  felt  like  the  man  of  the 
north  the  glamour  and  enchantment  of  war.  Fight- 
ing was  the  romance  that  alone  broke  the  stern 
monotony  of  his  life;  the  excitement  and  emotion 
which  find  a  hundred  spheres  among  men  of  our 
day  found  but  this  one  sphere  with  him.  As  his 
boat  swept  out  between  the  dark  headlands  at  the 
fiord's  mouth,  the  muscles  that  had  been  hardened 
by  long  strife  with  thankless  toil  quivered  with  the 
joy  of  the  coming  onset.  A  passion  of  delight  rings 
through  war-saga  and  song;  there  are  times  when 
the  northern  poetry  is  drunk  with  blood,  when  it 
reels  with  excitement  at  the  crash  of  sword -edge 
through  helmet  and  bone,  at  the  warrior's  war-shout, 
at  the  gathering  heaps  of  dead.  The  fever  of  fight 
drove  all  ruth  and  pity  before  it.  Within  the  cir- 
cle of  his  own  home,  indeed,  the  sternness  of  the 
life  he  lived  did  gentle  work  in  the  Wiking's  heart.' 
Long  winter  and  early  nightfall  gathered  the  house- 

^  For  their  love  of  home,  see  a  touching  scene  in  the  Njal's  Saga 
(trans,  by  Dasent,  i.  236).  Gunnar,  doomed  by  the  Thing  to  exile, 
goes  down  to  the  ship,  then  "  he  turned  with  his  face  up  towards 
the  Lithe  and  the  homestead  at  Lithend,  and  said,  "  Fair  is  the 
Lithe,  so  fair  that  it  has  never  seemed  to  me  so  fair ;  the  corn-fields 
are  white  to  harvest,  and  the  home-mead  is  mown  ;  and  now  I  will 
ride  back  home,  and  not  fare  over  sea  at  all." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^^ 

hold  closely  together  round  the  common  hearth,  and  chap,  n, 
nowhere  did  stronger  ties  bind  husband  to  wife  or     The 
child  to  father;  nowhere  was  there  a  deeper  rever-    oniTe^ 
ence  for  womanhood  and  the  sanctities  of  woman-  wikings. 
hood.     But  when  fight  had  once  begun,  the  farmer  829-858. 
and  fisher  who  loved  his  own  wife  and  child  with  so 
tender  a  love  became  a  warrior  who  hewed  down  the 
priest  at  his  altar,  drove  mothers  to  slavery,  tossed 
babes  in  grim  sport  from  pike  to  pike.'     The  na- 
tions on   whom   these   men   were    soon  to  swoop 
cowered  panic-stricken   before  a  pitilessness    that 
seemed  to  them  the  work  of  madmen.     "  Deliver 
us,"  ran  the  prayer  of  a  litany  of  the  time, "  deliver 
us,  O  Lord,  from  the  frenzy  of  the  Northmen !" 

What  o:ave  their  warfare  its  special  character  was  ,,  ^{'^ 
that  its  field  was  the  sea.  The  very  nature,  indeed,  and  the 
of  their  home-land  drove  these  men  to  the  sea,  for 
in  all  the  northern  lands  society  was  as  yet  but  a 
thin  fringe  of  life  edging  closely  the  sea-brim.  In 
Sweden  or  the  Danish  isles  rough  forest-edg-e  or 
dark  moor -slope  pressed  the  village  fields  closely 
to  the  water's  edge.  In  Norwary  the  bulk  of  the 
country  was  a  vast  and  desolate  upland  of  barren 
moor,  broken  only  by  narrow  dales  that  widened 
as  they  neared  the  coasts  into  inlets  of  sea;  and  it 
was  in  these  inlets  or  fiords,  in  the  dale  at  the 
fiord's  head,  or  by  the  fiord's  side,  where  the  cliff- 

'  "  Domos  vestras  combusserunt,  res  vestras  asportarunt,  pueros 
sursum  jactatos  lancearum  acumine  susceperunt,  conjuges  vestras 
quasdam  vi  oppresserunt,  quasdam  secum  abduxerunt." — Hen. 
Hunt.  lib.  V.  prooem.  (ed.  Arnold,  p.  138).  A  Wiking  named  Oelver, 
in  the  ninth  century,  is  said  to  have  been  nicknamed  "  Barnakarl" 
(or  child's  cnecht),  because  he  would  not  join  in  the  tossing  children 
on  pikes. — Munch,  Det  Norske  Folks  Hist.  (Germ. trans.),  pt.  iv.  p.  232. 


sea. 


54        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  II.  Yv^all  now  softened  into  slopes  to  which  his  cattle 
«ho  clung,  now  drew  back  to  make  room  for  thin  slips 
^5*thf  of  meadow-land  and  corn-land,  that  the  Norwegian 
Wijpngs.  found  his  home.  Inland,  where  the  bare  mountain 
^29-858.  flats  then  rose  like  islands  out  of  a  sea  of  wood,  the 
country  was  strange  and  dread  to  them ;  for  the 
boldest  shrank  from  the  dark  holts  and  pools  that 
broke  the  desolate  moorland,  from  the  huge  stones 
that  turned  into  giants  in  the  mists  of  nightfall — 
giants  that  stalked  over  the  fell  till  the  gray  dawn 
smote  them  into  stone  again — from  the  wolves  that 
stole  along  the  fearsome  fen-paths,  and  from  the  fell 
shapes  into  which  their  excited  fancy  framed  the 
mists  at  eventide — shapes  of  giant  "  moor-steppers," 
of  /elves  and  trolls,  of  Odin  with  his  wind-cloak 
wrapped  round  him  as  he  hurried  over  the  waste. 
But  terror  and  strangeness  vanished  with  a  sight  of 
the  sea.  To  the  man  of  the  north  the  sea  was  road 
and  hunting-ground.  It  was  a  "water-street"  be- 
tween the  scattered  settlements ;  for  few  cared  to 
push  overland  across  the  dark  belts  of  moor  that 
parted  one  fiord  from  another.  Even  more  than  the 
land  about  his  home  it  was  the  dalesmen's  harvest- 
field  ;  for  fisher's  net  had  often  to  make  up  for  scanty 
corn-growth  and  rotting  crops,  and  quest  of  whale 
and  seal  carried  them  far  along  their  stormy  coasts.' 
Their  The  Hfc  of  thcsc  northern  folk  was,  in  its  main 
features,  one  with  the  life  of  the  earlier  Englishmen.* 
Their  home   and   home   customs  were   the   same. 

^  See  Othere's  stor>'  in  iElf red's  Orosius,  at  the  close  of  Pauli^s 
Life  of  Alfred,  p.  249. 

'  See  Munch,  Det  Norske  Folks  Historie  (Germ,  trans,  by  Claus- 
sen),  pt.  ii.  pp.  140-257,  for  the  details  of  their  life. 


xisa^cs. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^^ 

|The  ranks  of  society  differed  only  in  name.  Our  chap.  ii. 
aetheling,  ceorl,  and  slave  are  found  in  the  oldest  The 
tradition  of  the  north  as  jarl^  carl,  and  thrall;'  in  ^o°fThe^ 
later  times  carl  begat  the  bonder  and  jarl  the  ^i^^- 
king.  There  was  as  little  difference  in  their  politi-  839-858. 
cal  or  judicial  institutions.  The  bonders  gathered 
to  the  thing  as  the  ceorls  to  the  moot ;  we  see  the 
little  "folks,"  who  in  our  own  history  so  soon  fuse 
into  larger  peoples  in  the  "  fylki,"  each  with  its  jarl 
or  king,  eight  of  which  found  room  for  themselves 
in  the  district  of  Trondhjem  alone.'  In  religion,  too, 
there  was  the  same  kinship.  The  gods  that  were 
common  to  the  Teutonic  race  were  worshipped  in 
the  northern  lands  as  elsewhere,  though  nowhere 
among  the  German  peoples  did  their  story  become 
clothed  with  so  noble  a  poetry.  The  contrast  of 
the  warmth  and  peace  within  the  home  of  the  Scan- 
dinavian with  the  sternness  and  uproar  of  the  win- 
ter world  without  it,  woke  a  wild  fancy  in  the  groups 
that  clustered  through  the  long  eventide  round  the 
glowing  wood-ashes  of  the  hearth.  Thor's  mighty 
hammer  was  heard  smiting  in  the  thunder  peal  that 
rolled  away  over  the  trackless  moors.  Odin's 
mighty  war-cry  was  heard  in  the  wind-blast  that 
rushed  howling  out  to  sea.  The  faint  and  brief 
daylight  of  mid-winter  pointed  forward  to  that  "  twi- 
light of  the  gods,"  when  even  they  should  yield  to 
the  weird  that  awaited  them,  and  the  All-father  him- 
self should  die. 

*  See  the  curious  "  Rigsmaal"  in  Edda  Samundar,  iii.  170-190. 
Copenhagen,  1828. 

="  Saga  of  Harald  Fairhair ;  Laing's  Sea  Kings  of  Norway  (trans- 
lation of  the  Heimskringla),  i.  275.  For  the  Fylki,  see  Munch,  Det 
Norske  Folks  Hist.  (German  trans.),  pt.  i.  p.  126,  etc. 


^6        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  II.  There  was  the  same  likeness  in  their  usages  of 
The  war.  In  both  peoples  the  war-band  lay  at  the  root 
of  the  of  all.  The  young  warriors  of  the  folk  gathered 
wikings.  j.Qm^(j  a,  war-leader  for  fight  and  foray ;  sometimes 
829-858.  ^\-^Q  kinor  of  this  dale  or  that  summoned  his  fio^htinor- 
T/ieir  men  for  more  serious  warfare;  sometimes  a  farmer 
when  seed-time  was  over  mustered  his  bondmen  for 
a  harvest  of  pillage  ere  the  time  came  for  harvest- 
ing his  fields.  To  reap  the  one  harvest  was  counted 
through  the  north  as  honest  and  man-worthy  a  deed 
as  to  reap  the  other.'  But  while  the  English  war- 
band  made  its  foray  over  land,  the  northern  war- 
band  made  its  foray  over  sea.  From  the  "  wik,"  or 
creek  where  their  long-ship  lurked,  the  "  Wikings," 
or  "creek-men,"'  as  the  adventurers  were  called, 
pounced  upon  their  prey,  or  crept  along  the  iron- 
bound  coast,  striking  here  and  there  up  the  fiords 
to  harry  and  to  slay.  The  "  long-ship  "  itself  in  its 
very  construction  was  above  all  a  pirate  ship;  of 
great  length,  but  narrow  beam  and  little  depth  of 
keel,"  its  admirable  lines  and  all  but  flat  bottom 
showed  that  it  was  built  exclusively  for  speed.  In 
rough  water,  indeed,  the  Wiking  ships  were  almost 
unmanageable,  and  a  storm  like  that  off  the  coast  of 
Lindisfarne  in  794  threw  them  helpless  on  the  beach. 
Nor  were  they  adapted  for  long  sea-journeys ;  there 

*  See  the  story  of  Swein,  Asleif's  son,  in  the  Orkneyinga  Saga 
(trans,  by  Anderson),  c.  72,  etc.,  pp.  117^/  se^. 

^  For  derivation  and  history  of  this  word,  see  Munch,  Det  Norske 
Folks  Hist.  (German  trans.),  pt.  iv.  p.  237.  It  is  used  solel}-^  by  voy- 
agers to  the  western,  never  by  those  to  the  eastern,  seas. 

^  The  boat  found  recently  under  a  mound  at  Gokstad,  in  Norway, 
is  about  seventy-eight  feet  long  by  sixteen  and  a  half  feet  broad, 
and  between  five  and  six  feet  deep.  She  would  draw  about  four 
feet  of  water,  and  was  driven  by  sixteen  oars  on  either  side. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^7 

was  little  accommodation  for  crew  or  cargo  ;  and  the  char  n. 
pirates  were  forced  to  moor  at  each  sunset,  to  make     The 
a  foray  for  what  cattle  might  serve  for  their  meal,    onty 
and  to  sleep  beneath  a  sail  on  the  beach.     In  fight-  ^^^s^- 
ing,  too,  their  slightness  of  construction,  fastened  to-  829-858. 
gether  as  their  timbers  often   were  by  wattles  of 
tree-roots  for  lack  of  iron,  forbade  any  use  of  them 
in  shock  of  ship  against  ship ; '  they  were,  in  fact, 
lashed  together,  and  their  stern  and  forecastle  used 
as  platforms  for  their  fighting   crews.     But   they 
were  well  fitted  for  their  special  end.      A  heavy 
merchant  vessel  lay  at  the  mercy  of  the  Wiking's 
"keel,"  as  it  darted  out  from  covert  of  headland  or 
isle,  while  its  flat  bottom  and  shallow  draught  of 
water  made  every  river-mouth  a  haven,  and  every 
river  a  road  into  the  land  that  the  pirates  lusted  to 
pillage. 

At  the  causes  that  drew  these  men,  with  the  close  cm'ses^f 

thetr . 

of  the  eio:hth  century,''  to  their  attack  on  western  movement 

r^i      •  1  11-1  .  to  the 

Christendom  we  can  do  little  more  than  guess,  for    south. 
history  of  the  north,  as  yet,  there  is  none.'     It  may 
be,  as  after-legend  told,  that  the  growth  of  popula- 

^  The  ships  of  the  Wikings  were  not  designed  for  sea-fights ; 
their  main  object  was  to  serve  merely  ase  means  of  transport  from 
one  field  of  plunder  to  another.  See  K.  Maurer's  review  of  Steen- 
strup's  Indledning  i  Normannertiden  (Normannerne,  Bind  i.)  in 
the  Jenaer  Literatur-zeitung,  4th  series,  No.  2,  Jan.  13,  1877,  p.  25. — 
(A.  S.  G.) 

^  The  Scandinavian  legends  carry  the  conquests  of  the  Northmen 
back  to  a  far  earlier  time.  But  the  joint  evidence  of  the  English, 
Irish,  and  Prankish  chroniclers  is  conclusive  in  establishing  the  real 
date  of  their  first  attacks. 

^  Munch,  in  the  opening  of  his  great  work,  Det  Norske  Folks 
Historic,  has  striven  to  penetrate  the  darkness  by  the  help  of  philol- 
ogy, the  older  genealogies,  etc. ;  but  his  success  is  far  from  being 
commensurate  with  his  industry. 


829-858 


58  THE   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAR  II.  tion  had  outstripped  the  resources  of  the  fiords,  and 

The     the  little  commonwealths  were  forced  by  very  hun- 

of  the    ger  to  drive  out  their  younger  folk/     It  may  be  that 

wikings.  ^YiQ  work  of  union  w^hich  was  at  last  to  knit  these 
commonwealths  together  into  peoples  and  nations, 
as  well  as  the  revolt  against  it,  had  already  begun. 
The  men  of  the  north  shared  with  the  rest  of  the 
Teutonic  family  its  love  of  freedom  and  self-govern- 
ment ;  but  the  severance  of  settlement  from  settle- 
ment by  long  reaches  of  desolate  moorland  gave  this 
spirit  of  independence  a  harder  and  fiercer  tone  than 
elsewhere.  It  became  a  wild  and  passionate  hatred 
of  the  subordination  and  obedience  which  wider 
union  and  a  common  government  necessarily  bring 
with  them.  No  seas  were  too  strange  to  traverse,  no 
land  too  far  to  fly  to,  when  the  Northman  was  called 
to  bow  to  the  rule  of  a  common  king.  But  the  full 
effect  of  this  temper  was  not  to  be  felt  for  a  hundred 
years;  and  in  seeking  for  the  causes  of  their  action 
at  this  earlier  time  it  is,  perhaps,  needless  to  look 

^  Laing  (Sea  Kings  of  Norway,  i.  109)  shows  the  impossibility  of 
widening  the  little  farms  along  the  fiords,  and  the  consequent  neces- 
sity for  constant  emigration.  It  is  still  seen  in  the  large  number  of 
Scandinavian  emigrants  to  America.  See  Munch,  Det  Norske 
Folks  Hist.  (German  trans.),  pt.  i.  p.  173,  and  Dudo,  "  Exuberantes 
atque  terram,  quam  incolunt,  habitare  non  sufficientes,  collecta  sorte 
multitudine  pubescentium,  veterrimo  ritu  in  externa  regna  extru- 
duntur  nationum,  ut  adquirant  sibi  praeliando  regna,  quibus  vivere 
possint  pace  perpetua"^  (Duchesne,  Histor.  Norm.  p.  62).  Olaf 
Trygvasson's  Saga  mentions  a  tradition  that  in  case  of  famine  all 
who  could  not  feed  themselves,  old  and  sick,  were  slain.  [Steen- 
strup  accepts  the  theory  of  over-population  (which  he  attributes  to 
the  practice  of  polygamy)  as  the  cause  of  emigration.  K.  Maurer, 
on  the  other  hand,  argues  from  the  account  given  in  Landnamabok 
of  Harald  Fairhair's  attempts  ta  check  emigration  that  the  country 
cannot  have  been  over-peopled.  See  Maurers  review  of  Steenstrup 
in  Jenaer  Literatur-zeitung,  Jan.  13,  1877,  p.  25. — (A.  S.  G.)] 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


59 


further  than  to  the  hope  of  plunder.  What  a  spell  chap.  h. 
the  sudden  disclosure  of  a  world's  wealth  casts  on  The 
whole  peoples  we  know  from  the  memories  of  the  onS? 
Spain  of  Charles  the  Fifth  and  the  England  of  ^^^s^- 
Elizabeth.  But  the  expeditions  of  Cortes  or  Ra-  829-858. 
leigh  were  only  the  last  outbreaks  of  a  passion 
which  had  lingered  on  from  the  very  outset  of  hu- 
man history.  As  soon  as  men  gathered  in  village 
and  seaport  the  boats  of  Greek  pirates  swarmed 
over  the  Hellenic  seas.  Rome,  in  the  very  height 
of  her  power,  had  to  battle  with  pirate  fleets  which 
grew  with  the  growing  commerce  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean. It  was  the  wealth  of  the  empire,  the  dream 
of  sacking  her  towns  and  pillaging  her  treasures, 
which  drew  on  her  the  German  peoples  in  her  de- 
cay. And  now  that  the  world  which  had  reeled 
under  that  mighty  shock  was  again  organizing  itself 
round  powers  which  recalled  the  greatness  as  well 
as  the  name  of  Rome  —  now  that  commerce  was 
covering  the  sea  afresh  with  its  merchant  boats,  and 
new  towns  rising  within  deserted  walls,  and  wealth 
gathering  once  more  under  the  shelter  of  church 
and  abbey,  the  thirst  for  plunder  woke  again  in  the 
north.  The  boats  which  had  sailed  from  its  fiords 
to  pillage  the  dales  of  their  neighbors  steered  south- 
wards for  a  richer  spoil. 

From  the  opening  of  the  ninth  century  we  see      The 
them  pushing  boldly  to  the  south  along  two  distinct  andthe 
lines  of  advance  on  either  side  of  Britain — along  the  ^^"^^  ^' 
coast  of  Ireland,  and  along  the  coast  of  Gaul.     The 
starting-point   of   the   last   advance  was  a   region 
familiar  to  us  as  the  original  Engle-land,'  but  which 

^  Wulfstan  told  Alfred  of  his  sail  past  "  Jutland,  Zeeland,  and 


6o        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR II.  was  now  known  as  South  Jutland,  and  whose 
The  earlier  peoples  had  been  replaced  by  dwellers  of 
of™h?  Scandinavian  blood.  The  political  geography  of  the 
wikings.  j^Qi-j-}^  ^r^s  far  from  having  taken,  as  yet,  its  after- 
82a-858.  shape.  The  kingdom  of  Swithiod,  indeed,  in  the 
lands  about  Upsala  already  gave  promise  of  the  fu- 
ture Sweden,  but  only  a  germ  of  the  later  Norway 
could  be  seen  in  the  little  kingdom  of  Westfold  round 
the  Christiania  fiord.  Small,  however,  as  this  was,  it 
had  shown  itself  vigorous  enough  to  set  up  a  line 
of  dependent  kings  in  South  Jutland;'  and  it  was 
the  raids  of  these  kings  along  the  Prankish  shores 
that,  in  the  year  800,  when  his  power  had  reached 
its  highest  point,  drew  Charles  the  Great  to  the 
northern  borders  of  his  realm.  The  garrisons  he 
stationed  along  the  coast,  as  well  as  a  fleet  which 
he  ordered  to  be  built  in  its  harbors,  showed  how 
keen  was  his  sense  of  the  danger  that  threatened 
the  western  world.  His  precautions,  indeed,  were 
not  an  hour  too  soon.  In  803,  during  his  last  strug- 
gle with  the  Saxons,  Gudrod  or  Godfrid,  king  both 
of  Westfold  and  South  Jutland,  advanced  with  a 
fleet  as  far  as  Slcswick*  and  gave  shelter  to  the  war- 
riors who  fled  from  the  sword  of  the  Franks.  Five 
years  later  a  raid  of  the  same  king  across  the  Elbe 
again  called  the  Prankish  arms  to  the  north,  and 
Godfrid  drew  across  the  peninsula  the  defensive 
line  of  earthworks  called  the  Dane  work  to  arrest 
them. 

many  islands."  "  In  these  lands,"  comments  the  king,  "the  Engle 
dwelt  before  they  came  hither  to  this  land." — -Alfred's  Orosius,  in 
Pauli's  Life  of  Alfred,  p.  253. 

^  For  these  kings  in  Westfold  and  South  Jutland,  see  Munch,  Det 
Norske  Folks  Hist.  (German  trans.),  pt.  iv.  pp.  134-154. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        55 

So  formidable,  indeed,  was  this  freebooter's  pres-  chap.  h. 
ence  that  Charles  was  already  preparing  an  expe-     The 
dition  against  Jutland  when  Godfrid  himself  chal-  ^o^niJ? 
lenged  the  encounter,  in  810,  by  a  descent  on  Frisia  ^^^^s. 
with  two  hundred  ships  ;  and,  making  himself  master  829-858. 
of  the  country  after  three  combats  with  its  people,     Their 
boasted  that  he  would  soon  go  and  enthrone  himself    Frisia. 
in  the  emperor's  own  Aachen.     The  danger,  indeed, 
passed  away  as  suddenly  as  it  had  risen,  for  the 
northern  king  was  slain  by  one  of  his  followers,  his 
kingdom  was   broken   up,  and  a  nephew,  Heming, 
who  succeeded  him  in  the  Jutish  part  of  it,  made 
peace  with  the  Franks.     But  even  this  peace,  and  a 
civil  war  among  the  Northmen,  which  followed  it, 
did  not  quiet  the  emperor's  anxiety ;  for  on  the  eve 
of  his  death,  in  the  autumn  of  81 1,  we  find  him  visit- 
ing Boulogne  to  see  the  ships  whose  building  he 
had  ordered  the  year  before,  and,  after  restoring  the 
old  Roman  light-house  which  served  to  guide  ships 
along  the  coast,  he  made  his  way  thence  to  the  banks 
of  the  Scheldt,  where  vessels  were  also  in  process  of 
construction.     During  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of 
his  son,  the  Emperor  Lewis,  a  continuance  of  the 
civil  war  among  the  Northmen  served  even  more 
than  these  fleets  to  secure  the  Frankish  coast;  and 
the  aid  of  the  emperor  enabled  Harold  or  Heriold, 
one  of  the  claimants  of  the  throne,  again  to  detach 
Jutland  from  Westfold.     But  Harold's  conversion  to 
Christianity  was  at  once  followed  by  his  expulsion 
from  the  land ;  and  from  this  moment  the  old  attacks 
were  resumed  as  fiercely  as  ever,  till  the  strife  be- 
tween Lewis  and  his  sons  broke  down  the  barriers 
between  the  Northmen  and  their  prey,  and  the  pirate- 


62        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.ir.  boats  ravaged  without  hindrance  from  the  mouth  of 
The     the  Elbe  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine. 
ofTh?       It  was    a   party  of  these    marauders   along   the 

wikings.  Prankish  coast  who  at  last  pushed  across  the  Chan- 

829-858.  1-iei  to  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  and  ravaged,  in  834, 
The  the  Isle  of  Sheppey.'  But  whatever  influence  the 
'and'  advance  of  the  Wikings  along  the  coast  of  Gaul  may 

Ireland.  |^^^^  j^^^  ^^  ^j^^  southcm  or  castem  states  of  Brit- 
ain, the  attention  of  Ecgberht  himself  must  have  been 
fixed  even  more  intently  on  their  parallel  line  of  ad- 
vance to  the  west."  Ireland  was  as  yet  a  more  tempt- 
ing prey  for  the  pirates  than  even  Gaul.'  It  was  at 
the  monasteries  that  these  earlier  raids  w^ere  mainly 
aimed ;  and  nowhere  w^re  the  monastic  houses  so 
many  and  so  rich.  It  was  in  these  retreats,  indeed, 
sheltered  as  men  deemed  by  their  holiness  from  the 
greed  of  the  spoiler,  that  the  whole  wealth  of  the 
country  was  stored ;  and  the  goldwork  and  jewelry 
of  their  shrines,  their  precious  chalices,  the  silver- 
bound  horn  which  king  or  noble  dedicated  at  their 
altars,  the  curiously  WTOught  covering  of  their  mass- 
books,  the  hoard  of  their  treasure-chests,  fired  the 
imaofination  of  the  northern  marauders  as  the  treas- 
ures  of  the  Incas  fired  that  of  the  soldiers  of  Spain. 
News  spread  fast  up  dale  and  fiord  how  wealth  such 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  832  (4). 

'  Additional  proof  that  the  earher  attacks  on  Southern  Britain 
came  from  Ireland  is  given  by  a  hoard  of  Anglo-Saxon  coins,  many 
of  them  Kentish,  found  at  Delgany  in  Wicklow,  to  which  attention 
has  been  drawn  by  Mr.  John  Evans.  The  latest  in  date  are  those 
of  Beornwulf,  from  820  to  824,  while  neither  in  Sweden  nor  Den- 
mark have  such  coins  been  found  of  earlier  date  than  830. 

"  For  the  Northmen  in  Ireland,  see  especially  The  War  of  the 
Gaedhill  with  the  Gaill,  ed.  by  Dr.  Todd,  1867,  and  its  learned  In- 
troduction. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        5^ 

as  men  never  dreamed  of  was  heaped  up  in  houses  chap,  n. 
guarded  only  by  priests  and  shavelings,  who  dared     The 
not  draw  sword.    The  Wikings  had  long  been  draw-    oTth? 
ing  closer  to  this  tempting  prey.    From  the  coast  of  "^^^&^- 
Norway '  a  sail  of  twenty-four  hours  with  a  fair  wind  829-858. 
brings  the  sailor  in  sight  of  the  Shetlands ; '  Shet- 
lands  and  Orkneys  furnished  a  base  for  the  advance 
of  the  pirates  along  the  western  shores  of  Britain, 
where  they  found  a  land  like  their  own  in  the  dales 
and  lochs  of  Ross  and  Argyll,  and  where  the  names 
of  Caithness  and  Sutherland  tell  of  their  conquest 
and  settlement  on  the  mainland ;  while  the  physical 
appearance  of  the  people  still  records  their  coloniza- 
tion of  the  Hebrides.'     Names  such  as  that  of  the 
Orm's  Head  mark  their  entrance  at  last  into  the 
Irish  Channel;*  and  here  they  had  for  more  than 
thirty  years  been  ravaging  along  either  coast,  but 
seeking  out  and  plundering  above  all  the  religious 
houses  with  which  Ireland  was  studded. 

In  8^2,  however,  but  four  years  after  the  submis-  „,P^ 
sion  of  all  England  to  Ecgberht,  these  raids  gave   ^^'jf/^^ 
way  to  an  organized  invasion ;  for  the  host  of  a  lead- 

*  The  earlier  assailants  of  Ireland  are  called  "White  Lochlann," 
who  are  supposed  to  be  Norwegians ;  the  later  "  Danar,"  or  Danes. 
But  "we  cannot  be  sure  that  the  word  'Dane'  is  not  sometimes 
given  to  the  Norwegians." — Todd,  War  of  Gaedhill  and  Gaill,  Introd. 
p.  xxxi.  Geographical  considerations,  however,  seem  decisive  as  to 
the  starting-point  of  the  attack  on  the  Isles  and  Ireland. 

'  Munch,  Det  Norske  Folks  Hist.  (German  trans.),  pt.  iv.  p.  212. 
'  Worsaae,  The  Danes  and  Northmen,  sec.  ix. 

*  The  Annals  of  Ulster  note  their  first  appearance  in  794  (really 
795) :  "  The  burning  of  Rechru  by  the  Gentiles,  and  its  shrines  were 
broken  and  plundered."  Rechru  is  probably  Lambay  Island.  From 
a  passage  in  Caradoc  of  Lancarvan,  this  would  seem  to  have  been 
after  their  defeat  in  a  descent  on  Glamorgan. — Todd,  War  of  Gaed- 
hill and  Gaill,  Introd.  pp.  xxxii.,  xxxiii. 


IVelsh. 


54        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  II.  er  named  Turgesius'  or  Thorgils,  establishing  itself 
The  at  Armagh,  levied  tribute  from  all  the  north  of  Ire- 
^ofihe  land.  What  must  have  given  its  main  import  to 
wikingg.  ^j^-g  settlement  in  Ecgberht's  eyes  was  the  fact  that 
829-858.  it  brought  with  it  a  revival  of  the  struggle  with  the 
Welsh.  His  conquest  of  Cornwall  had  seemed  the 
last  blow  in  a  strife  of  more  than  four  hundred 
years ;  but  the  blow  was  hardly  struck  when  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Northmen  in  the  Irish  seas  roused  the 
West  Welsh  to  fresh  hopes  of  freedom.  The  scanty 
traces  of  their  presence  show  that  the  pirates  at- 
tempted little  in  the  way  of  settlement  on  the  east- 
ern shores  of  the  Irish  Channel ;  there  was  little,  in- 
deed, to  tempt  them  in  the  wild  Bret-land.  But  be- 
hind it  lay  the  richer  land  of  the  Engle;  and  soon 
it  was  not  as  foes  but  as  friends  that  they  were 
offerino:  themselves  to  the  Welsh  for  a  raid  on  their 
common  enemy.  Such  an  offer  could  not  fail  to 
find  a  response ;  and  thus,  after  encountering  with 
varied  fortunes  the  first  stray  descents  upon  his 
coasts,  the  West-Saxon  king  found  himself  face  to 
face  with  a  rising  of  the  newly  won  land  across  the 
Tamar,"  backed  by  armed  aid  from  the  Northmen. 
All  Cornwall  must  have  risen ;  for  it  was  at  a  spot 
but  a  few^  miles  from  its  border  that  Ecgberht  met 
the  forces  of  the  league,  on  a  lift  of  dreary  granitic 
upland  just  westward  of  its  boundary,  the  Tamar, 
the  heights  that  bear   the    name  of  Hengest-dun. 

*  Snorro's  Saga  of  Harald  Fairhair  (Laing's  Heimskringla,  i.  304) 
makes  this  Thorgils  a  son  of  Harald,  sent  by  him  to  Ireland.  But 
Harald  did  not  begin  his  reign  till  thirty  years  later,  and  was  then 
but  a  boy  of  ten  years  old. 

'  Cornwall  had  been  conquered  by  Ecgberht  in  823.  See  Making 
of  England,  p.  432.— (A,  S.  G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        5^ 

But  victory  was  still  true   to  the   king,  Cornwall  chap,  il 
was  again  recovered,  and  the  fight  won  rest  for  his     The 
own  West-Saxon  land  from  the  northern  marauders   ^otthe 
through  the  last  two  years  of  Ecgberht's  reign.'  wikings. 

But  if  the  pirate  descents  failed  to  loose  Ecg-  829-858. 
berht's  hold  upon  the  west,  they  had  a  far  more  mo-  Poutkai 
mentous  result  in   arresting,  at  its  very  outset,  his  ^'ulnlf' 
work  of  consolidating  the  English  peoples  themselves.   ^^•^•^^^• 
This  work,  it  must  be  remembered,  had  hardly  begun. 
That  the  vague  supremacy  which  Ecgberht  claimed 
might  have  been  developed  into  a  real  national  sov- 
ereignty by  after-efforts  of  the  West-Saxon  kings  is, 
indeed,  likely  enough,  if  we  compare  the  real  strength 
of  Wessex  with  that  of  its  rival  states ;  but  with  the 
coming  of  the  Danes  all  effort  after  such  a  sover- 
eignty was  suddenly  brought  to  an  end,  and  the  en- 
ergy of  Wessex  had  from  that  moment  to  be  con- 
centrated on  the  task  of  self-defence.     We  have  seen 
the  strength  which  Ecgberht's  kingdom  drew  from 
the  physical  characteristics  and  varied  composition 
of  the  older  and  the  newer  Wessex  that  lay  on  either 
side  of  Selwood.    But  the  power  of  the  West-Saxon 
ruler  stretched  beyond  the  bounds  of  Wessex,  where, 

'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  835  (7).  In  our  own  English  chronicles  "  Dena," 
or  Dane,  is  used  as  the  common  term  for  all  the  Scandinavian  invad- 
ers of  Britain,  though  not  including  the  Swedes,  who  took  no  part 
in  the  attack,  while  Northman  generally  means  "  man  of  Norway." 
Asser,  however,  uses  the  words  as  synonymous,  "  Nordmanni  sive 
Dani."  Across  the  channel  "  Northman  "  was  the  general  name  for 
the  pirates,  and  "  Dane"  would  usually  mean  a  pirate  from  Denmark. 
The  distinction,  however,  is  partly  a  chronological  one ;  as  owing 
to  the  late  appearance  of  the  Danes  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, and  the  prominent  part  they  then  took  in  the  general  Wiking 
movement,  their  name  tended  from  that  time  to  narrow  the  area  of 
-the  earlier  term  of  "  Nordmanni."  See  Munch,  Det  Norske  Folks 
Hist.  (German  trans.),  pt.  iv.  pp.  1 35-1 3;5. 


56        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP,  ir.  eastward  of  the  Andredsweald,  the  so-called  "  Eastern 
The      Kingdom  "  grouped  itself  round  the  centre  of  Kent. 
^oTthf   Subject  as  it  was  to  Ecgberht,  Kent  still  retained 
wikinga.  something  of  its  older  greatness ;  and  the  existence 
829-858.  of  the  Primate  alone  would  have  hindered  it  from 
sinking  into  a  mere  dependency  of  Wessex.     Nor 
did  it  look  upon  itself  as  a  conquered  country  or  as 
linked  to  Wessex  simply  by  the  sword;  for  Ecg- 
berht claimed  to  be  nearest  in  blood  to  the  house  of 
Hengest,  and  to  be  thus  as  fully  hereditary  king  of 
Kent  as  he  was  of  Wessex.     The  two  kingdoms, 
therefore,  were  united,  not  by  a  subordination  of  one . 
to  the  other,  but  by  their  obedience  to  a  common 
king.     Such  a  relation  made  it  possible  to  solve  the 
problem  of  the  government  of  Kent  by  setting  over 
it,  as  under-king,  the  elder  among  the  sons  of  the 
King  of  Wessex,  and  by  grouping  about  it  Essex, 
Surrey,  and  Sussex,  to  form  a  realm  which  bore  the 
name  of  the  Eastern  Kingdom.* 
P,s  Differences  so  marked  as  those  which  existed  be- 

organiza-  twccn  thc  thrcc  divisions  of  Wessex  might  well  have 
^^^"^  imperilled  its  political  unity;  what  they  actually  did 
was  to  triple  its  military  strength.  We  shall  see  the 
Danes  conquering  Northumbria  or  Mercia  in  a  sin- 
gle campaign.  But  to  conquer  Wessex  required  a 
threefold  effort.  When  the  pirates,  after  years  of 
ravage,  had  practically  torn  from  it  the  Eastern  King- 
dom, Wessex  itself  faced  the  invaders  behind  the 
Andredsweald ;  and  even  when  the  older  realm  had 

*  Charter  of  Ecgberht,  823 ;  "  filii  nostri  iEthelwulfi,  quern  regem 
constituimus  in  Cantia"  (Thorpe,  Diplomatarium,  p.  66).  ^thel- 
wulfs  own  charter  to  Chertsey  (ibid.  p.  78)  shows  that  Kent  here 
means  the  whole  Eastern  Kingdom. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        5y 

at  last  been  overrun,  a  West-Saxon  king  could  still  chap,  u. 
fall  back  on  the  Wessex  beyond  Selwood.     And  to     The 
this  natural  strength  was  added  the  strength  of  a    otthe 
distinct  military   organization.     The   fyrd  of  each  ^^^s^. 
folk-district  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  an  ealdorman  829-858. 
appointed  by  the  king;  nor  was  this  arrangement 
confined  to  Wessex  itself,  for  in  each  part  of  the 
"  Eastern  Kingdom,"  also,  we  find  an  ealdorman  act- 
ing side  by  side  with  the  under-king/    The  military 
value  of  this  organization  was  soon  seen  in  the  free- 
dom and  elasticity  which  it  gave  to  the  later  resist- 
ance against  the  Danes. 

But  Ecgberht  was  far  from  relying  only  on  his^''^'^^'="'^/ 
warlike  resources.  In  his  attitude  towards  the  Church  c/tura. 
he  followed,  no  doubt,  the  example  of  the  Prankish 
kings.  From  thje  earlier  Pippin  to  Qharles  the  Great 
the  rulers  of  the  Pranks  had  striven  to  raise  the  so- 
cial and  p^Dlitical  importance  of  the  clergy.  Within 
their  older  dominions  they  looked  upon  prelate  and 
priest  ^as  the  main  elements  of  social  order  and  in- 
tellectual progress;  in  their  newer  conquests  they 
planted  religious  foundations  as  centres  of  a  new 
civilization.  Motives  of  hardly  less  weight  would,  in 
any  case,  have  forced  the  same  policy  on  Ecgberht. 
In  the  realms  which  his  sword  had  begun  to  build 
up  into  a  new  England  the  Church  was  the  one 
power  which  he  found  unbroken.  The  anarchy  of 
each  kingdom  within  itself,  the  strife  of  one  kingdom 
with  another,  had  only  served  to  give  the  priesthood 
a  new  political  weight.  In  countries  where  the  Ger- 
man invaders  found  Christianity  already  established, 
and  bowed  to  its  supremacy,  the  bishop,  enthroned 

,  £^g  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  853. 


58        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  II.  in  his  Roman  town  and  representing  the  Roman  popv- 

The     ulation  in  its  attitude  towards  the  conqueror,  had 

onh?  from  the  first  taken  a  separate  political  position, 

wikmgs.  ^vhich  strengthened  into  temporal  princedom  as  time 

829-858.  went  on.  But  great  as  such  a  position  seemed,  it 
in  fact  brought  him  to  the  level  of  the  secular  nobles 
about  him.  Like  them  he  became  necessarily  em- 
broiled in  civil  strife ;  like  them  he  was  the  sport  of 
ill  fortune  as  of  good;  and  ill  fortune  meant,  in  his 
case  as  in  theirs,  exile  or  deposition  or  death.  But 
an  English  bishop  was  from  the  first  one  in  blood 
and  interest  with  the  whole  of  his  English  flock. 
His  diocese  was  the  kingdom.  His  bishop's  seat 
was  the  king's  town.  He  sat  beside  king  or  eald- 
orman  in  folk-moot  or  Witenagemot.  His  position 
was  as  national  as  theirs,  but  it  had  in  it  an  element 
of  permanence  which  their  position  lacked.  At  the 
close  of  the  eighth  century,  while  kings  were  being 
set  aside  and  ealdormen  slain,  the  bishop,  drawn  by 
no  personal  interest  into  the  strife  of  warring  fac- 
tions, rested  unharmed  in  his  bishop's  chair.  In 
realms  like  Kent,  where  the  civil  organization  broke 
utterly  down,  its  ruin  only  added  fresh  greatness  to 
the  spiritual  organization  beside  it.  The  weakness 
of  the  later  kings  of  Hengest's  race,  their  wreck  in 
the  struggle  of  Wessex  and  Mercia  for  the  Kentish 
kingdom,  raised  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury 
into  a  power  with  which  rulers  like  Offa  and  Cen- 
wulf  were  forced  to  reckon. 

EcgherhCs     ^\^^  poHcy  of  thc  Mcrcian  kinsrs  had  been  one  of 

ecclestasti-  .  o 

cai policy,  jealousy  of  this  new  power  and  influence  of  the 
Church.  Ecgberht,  on  the  other  hand,  like  the 
Frank  sovereigns  in  whose  court  he  learned  the  art 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        5^ 

of  rule,  seized  on  the  priesthood  as  allies  and  co-  chap.  n. 
operators  in  the  work  he  had  to  do.  His  earlier  The 
work  of  national  consolidation,  indeed,  was  a  work  cnS? 
which  the  Church  had  been  doing  ever  since  the  ^^^^°' 
days  of  Theodore.  Its  synods  were  the  first  national  829-858. 
gatherings,  its  canons  the  first  national  laws,  its 
bishops,  chosen,  as  they  often  were,  with  little  regard 
to  their  local  origin,  were  the  first  national  officers. 
The  national  character  of  the  Church  rose  into  yet 
greater  prominence  as  the  hopes  of  political  union 
died  away;  and  from  the  defeat  of  ^thelbald  to 
Ecgberht's  day  the  ecclesiastical  body  remained  the 
one  power  that  struggled  against  the  separatist  ten- 
dencies of  the  English  states  and  preserved  some 
faint  shadow  of  national  union.  That  Ecgberht 
should  seek  its  aid  in  his  work  of  consolidation  and 
order  would  in  any  case,  therefore,  have  been  natural 
enough.'  But  the  inroads  of  the  Wikings  supplied 
a  yet  stronger  ground  of  union  between  the  Church 
and  the  new  kingdom.  Each  suddenly  found  itself 
confronted  by  a  common  enemy.  The  foe  that 
threatened  ruin  to  the  political  organization  of  Eng- 
land threatened  ruin  to  its  religious  organization 
as  well.  In  the  attack  of  the  northern  peoples, 
heathendom  seemed  to  fling  itself  in  a  last  desperate 
rally  on  the  Christian  world.  Thor  and  Odin  were 
arrayed  against  Christ.  Abbey  and  minster  were 
the  special  objects  of  the  pirates'  plunder.  Priests 
were  slain  at  the  altar,  and  nuns  driven,  scared,  from 
their  quiet  cells.  Library  and  scriptorium,  costly 
manuscript  and  delicate  carving,  blazed  in  the  same 

^  For  Ecgberht's  attitude  to  the  Church,  see  Stubbs,  Constit.  Hist, 
i.  269. 


70        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^ii.  pitiless  fire.     It  was  not  the  mere  kingdom  of  Ecg- 

The     berht,  it  was  religion  and  learning  and  art  whose 

ofTh?  very  existence  was   at  stake.      It  was  a  common 

wikmgs.  danger,  therefore,  that  drew  Church  and  State  to- 

829-858.  gether  into  a  union  closer  than  had  been  seen  be- 
fore. In  838  Ecgberht  promised  lasting  peace  and 
protection  to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  and  received 
from  Archbishop  Ceolnoth  a  pledge  of  firm  and  un- 
shaken friendship  from  henceforth  forever.'  Like 
pledges  were  given  and  taken  from  Winchester,  and, 
as  we  may  believe,  from  the  rest  of  the  English 
churches. 

^thei-  This  alliance  was  the  last  political  act  of  Ecs:- 
berht  s  reign,  but  its  results  wore  felt  as  soon  as 
his  son  i^thelwulf  mounted  the  throne  in  the  year 
which  followed  it,  839 ;  and  the  energetic  attitude  of 
such  a  bishop  as  Ealhstan  of  Sherborne,  the  polit- 
ical influence  of  Bishop  Swithun  of  Winchester, 
mark  the  new  part  which  the  Church  was  hence- 
forth to  play  in  English  affairs.  As  bishop  of  the 
royal  city  of  Winchester,  Swithun  was  naturally 
drawn  close  to  the  throne,  and  throughout  ^thel- 
wulf's  days  he  seems  to  have  acted  as  the  king's 
counsellor."  But  ^thelwulf  was  far  from  being  the 
mere  tool  of  his  minister.  To  the  charges  made  in 
later  times  against  the  son  of  Ecgberht  the  actual 
history  of  his  reign  gives  little  countenance.  He 
is  reproached  with  weakness  and  inactivity,  with  an 
unwarlike  temper,  and  with  an  excessive  devotion  to 
the  Church.  But  it  is  hard  to  see  any  want  of 
energy  in  the  king's  actual  conduct.      His  steady 

^  Stubbs  and  Haddan,  Councils,  iii.  617. 
"  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  151. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        yj 

fight  with  the  Danes,  as  well  as  the  crowning  vie-  chap,  h, 
tory  which  foiled  their  heaviest  attack  at  Aclea,  The 
show  his  worth  as  a  warrior;  while  the  firmness  ofTh? 
with  which  he  carried  out  Ecgberht's  policy  at  ^^^^g«- 
home,  and  his  effort  to  orsranize  a  common  Euro-  829-858. 
pean  resistance  to  the  northern  marauders,  show  his 
capacity  as  a  statesman.  • 

-^thelwulf  had  hardly  mounted  the  throne  when  „J'!\^ 
he  had  to  meet  the  foe  whom  his  father  s  sword  had  attack 
driven  for  a  brief  space  from  the  land,  for  not  even 
such  a  victory  as  Hengest-dun  could  long  check  the 
attack  of  the  pirates  who  were  cruising  in  ever-grow- 
ing numbers  over  the  Irish  Sea.  Their  successes,  as 
we  have  seen,  had  now  given  them  a  base  of  opera- 
tions in  Ireland  itself,  the  north  of  which  seemed 
passing  into  the  hands  of  the  Wikings.'  Undis- 
puted master  of  Ulster,  Thorgils  dealt  a  heavy 
blow  at  the  religion  and  civilization  of  the  island 
by  the  destruction  of  Armagh,  and  pressed  hard 
upon  Meath  and  Connaught  Meanwhile,  scattered 
squadrons  were  seizing  point  after  point  along  the 
shore,  raising  forts  and  planting  colonies  to  which 
Ireland  owed  the  rise  of  its  earliest  towns,  for  Dub- 
lin, Waterford,  Limerick,  and  Cork  all  sprang  from 
pirate  settlements."  It  was  thus  from  a  land  that 
seemed  all  but  their  own  that  the  Ostmen,  as  the 
Wikings  were  called  in  these  parts,  could  direct 
their  attacks  against  the  unharried  country  across 
St.  George's  Channel.     But  they  found  a  vigorous 

'  For  the  character  of  Thorgil's  settlement,  see  Todd,  War  of  Gaed- 
hill  and  Gaill,  Introd.  p.  xlviii. 

^  "  It  was  in  837  or  838  that  Dublin  was  first  taken  by  the  foreign- 
ers, who  erected  a  fortress  there  in  841  or  842." — Todd,  War  of  Gaed- 
hill  and  Gaill,  Introd.  p.  liii. 


H2  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  II.  and  well-organized  resistance.     In  837  an  attack  on 
The     the  very  heart  of  the  realm  was  repulsed  by  the 
^o°nhe^  fyi'd  of  Hamton-shire  under  Ealdorman  Wulfheard/ 
wikings.  jj^g  |3^|j^  q{  ^j^g  pirate  raids,  however,  were  as  yet 
829-858.  directed  against   the  country  to  the  west  beyond 
Selwood,  the  district  which,  from  its  half  Celtic  pop- 
ulation, was  known  as  that  of  the  Wealh-cyn,  and 
where,  in  spite  of  the  failure  of  the  Cornwealas  in 
their  revolt  against  Ecgberht,  they  might  still  hope 
for  aid  from  the  western  Welsh.      Here,  however, 
the  local  fyrds  fought  as  resolutely  as  in  Hamton- 
shire.     In  the   very  year   of  Wulfheards   success 
Ealdorman  ^thelhelm,  at  the  head  of  the  Dorset- 
folk,  fell  beaten  after  a  well-fought  struggle  with  a 
pirate  force  which  landed  at   Portland,"  and  three 
years  later  King  ^thelwulf  was  himself  defeated  in 
an  encounter  with  thirty-five  pirate  ships  at  their  old 
landing-place  of  Charmouth ; '  but  in  845  the  fyrds 
of  Somerset  and  Dorset,  with  their  ealdormen  and 
their  bishop,  Ealhstan,  at  their  head,  repulsed  the  in- 
vaders with  heavy  loss  at  the  mouth  of  the  Parret, 
and   six  years  later   they   were   driven  back  with 
slaughter  by  the  fyrd  and  ealdorman  of  Devon.* 
The         The  stout  fiffhtino:  of  the  men  of  Wessex  was,  no 
t;i  Frank-  doubt,  aided  by  a  sudden  weakening  in  the  position 
of  their  assailants;  for  in  the  year  of  Bishop  Ealh- 
stan's  victory  at  the  Parret,  Thorgils  was  slain  in  a 
rising  of  the  Irish  tribes  of  the  north,"  and  his  host 
driven  from  the  land,  while  the  Ostmen  of  the  coast 
wasted  their  strength  in  bitter  warfare  between  the 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  837.  ""  Ibid. 

Mbid.840.  .  ::.  *  Ibid.  845, 851. 

*  See,  for  date,  Todd,  War  of  Gaedhill  and  Gaill,  Introd.  p.  xliii. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        73 

older  settlers  and  fresh-comers  from  the  northern  chap.  n. 
lands/  But  whether  from  her  own  resistance  or  the  The 
weakness  of  the  foes,  Wessex  at  last  gained  a  breath-  ^oTth? 
ing-space  in  the  struggle ;  and  for  twenty  years  to  bikings, 
come  only  a  single  descent  on  her  coast  disturbed  829-858. 
the  peace  which  she  had  won.  The  cessation  of  the 
strife  in  one  quarter,  however,  was  but  the  signal 
for  its  outbreak  in  another.  The  Wikings,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  pushed  forward  from  their  home  in 
two  parallel  lines  of  advance — one,  mainly  from  Nor- 
way, by  the  Shetlands  and  the  Hebrides  along  the 
coast  of  Ireland;  the  other,  mainly  from  South  Jut- 
land, along  the  coast  of  Friesland  and  of  Gaul.  The 
last  had,  till  now,  found  a  formidable  barrier  in  the 
resistance  of  the  empire.  But  the  wars  which  broke 
out  only  a  few  years  after  i^thelwulf's  accession  be- 
tween the  sons  of  Lewis  the  Pious  threw  open 
Frankland  to  the  pirates'  arms,  and  after  pushing 
up  the  Seine  and  the  Loire  to  the  sack  of  Rouen 
and  Nantes,  they  reached  the  Garonne,  in  844,  and 
wrecked  its  country  as  far  as  Toulouse.  In  845  a 
mighty  host  crowned  the  work  of  havoc  by  the  sack 
of  Paris;  and  with  fresh  fire  thus  added  to  their 
greed,  fleet  after  fleet  poured  along  the  coast  of 
Gaul.  Their  aid  roused  the  Bretons  into  revolt; 
while  victories  over  the  troops  of  the  Franks  gave 
Saintes  and  Limoges  to  pillage.  The  pirate  raids 
threatened  to  take  the  form  of  permanent  conquests. 
One  host  settled  down  in  Friesland,  another  seized 

^  According  to  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  the  "  Dubhgael,"  Black  Gen- 
tiles, or  Danes,  first  came  to  Ireland  in  851,  and  their  coming  was  at 
once  followed  by  a  great  battle  with  the  "  Fingalla,"  or  Norwegians. 
— Todd,  War  of  GaedhilJ  and  Gaill,  Introd.  p.  Ixxviii. 


74        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  II.  the  district  between  the  Scheldt  and  the  Meuse; 
The  the  fleets  which  pillaged  along  the  Seine  and  the 
^oTth?  Loire  began  to  winter  boldly  in  the  islands  of  the 
wikings.  ^^^  rivcrs ;  while,  in  848,  a  pirate  force  mastered  the 
829-858.  town  of  Bordcaux  and  made  it  a  place  of  arms. 
From  this  hour  the  Wikings  were  masters  of  west- 
ern Frankland,  moving  with  little  resistance  from 
river  to  river,  and  gathering  booty  at  their  will. 
They  at-  jt  may  havc  been  the  very  success  of  their  work, 
however,  on  the  one  side  of  the  Channel  that  had 
hindered  them,  as  yet,  from  undertaking  any  very 
serious  work  on  the  other.  From  the  outset  of 
^thelwulf's  reign,  indeed,  their  presence  had  been 
felt  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Britain ;  in  838  we  hear 
of  descents  on  Lindsey  and  East  Anglia,*  and,  in 
spite  of  the  silence  of  our  annals,  these  descents 
were  probably  often  repeated  through  the  years  that 
followed.  On  Kent,  naturally,  their  attacks  fell  more 
frequently.  Nowhere  in  Britain  was  there  a  more 
tempting  field  for  the  spoiler.  Its  early  civilization, 
its  importance  as  the  road  of  communication  with 
the  Continent,  made  Kent  one  of  the  wealthiest  and 
most  thriving  parts  of  Britain;  its  bounds  were 
steadily  enlarging  as  the  Kentishmen  cleared  their 
way  into  the  skirts  of  the  Weald,  and  rescued  from 
the  woodland  the  fertile  tract  along  the  upper  Med- 
way;  and  if  the  silting  up  of  the  Wantsum  had 
closed  the  harbor  of  Richborough,  the  growing  trade 
with  Gaul  had  but  passed  to  Dover  and  to  Sand- 
wich.'    The  central  borough  of  Kent,  Canterbury, 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  838. 

"^  This  must  have  been  very  early ;  as  Dover  was  already  a  port  in 
Ealdhelm's  day,  and  Sandwich  in  Wilfrid's. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


75 


was  in  size  and  wealth  among  the  greatest  of  English  char  n. 
cities;  and  it  was  the  seat  of  a  primacy  which  the     The 
suppression  of  that  of  Lichfield  left  without  a  rival    onS? 
in  southern  Britain.     What  was  yet  more  important  wi^ngs. 
in  the  pirates'  eyes  was  the  wealth  of  its  religious  829-8  8. 
houses.     Half  Thanet   belonged   to   the   abbey  at 
Minster,  while  the  estates  of  the  two  monasteries 
at  Canterbury  were  scattered  over  the  whole  face  of 
the  shire. 

While  ^thelwulf  guarded  Wessex,  it  was  here  T/ie victory 
that  his  son  ^^thelstan  met  the  assailants  of  his 
kingdom  in  the  east.  In  838  the  same  force  which 
ravaged  Lindsey  and  East  Anglia  slew  Ealdorman 
Herebriht  and  many  with  him,  in  a  descent  on  the 
flats  of  the  Mersc-wara,  and  harried  and  slew  in 
Kent  itself.'  In  the  next  year,  after  a  raid  on  Can- 
terbury, the  pirates  pushed  up  the  Thames  to  Lon- 
don and  Rochester."  Then,  for  a  while,  the  land 
had  rest,  till  in  851  the  Under-king  and  Ealdorman 
of  Kent  repulsed  a  raid  upon  Sandwich,  and  even 
captured  nine  of  the  pirate  ships.  The  squadron, 
however,  which  they  thus  beat  off  was  only  the  ad- 
vance guard  of  a  host  which  was  now  preparing  for 
an  attack;  and  in  the  course  of  the  same  year  a 
fleet  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  pirate  vessels,  start- 
ing, as  it  would  seem,  from  the  settlement  which  had 
been  made  in  the  island  of  Betau,  moored  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames,"  sacked  Canterbury,  pillaged 
London  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  Mercian  king, 
Beorhtwulf,  who  advanced  to  oppose  them,  and 
pushed  through  Surrey  into  the  heart  of  Britain. 
Here,  however,  i^thelwulf,  summoned  at  last  to  his 

»  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  838.  «  Ibid.  839.  Mbid.  851. 


76  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  II.  aid  by  the  Kentish  king,  threw  himself  across  their 
The     path,  and  a  long  and  stubborn  fight  at  Aclea  ended 
^oTthf   in  the  defeat  of  the  marauders.     More  pirates  fell 
wikings.  Qj^  |.j^g  £gl^^  boasted  the  conquerors,  than  had  ever 
829-858.  fallen  on  English  ground  before ;  and  the  complete- 
ness of  the  repulse  was  seen  in  the  withdrawal  of  the 
host  to  its  old  field  of  plunder  across  the  Channel. 
But  the  Wikings  were  far   from    any  thought  of 
abandoning  their  prey.     Two  years  later  two  ealdor- 
men,  at  the  head  of  the  fyrds  of  Kent  and  Surrey, 
fell  after  a  well-fought  fight  with  a  host  in  Thanet ; ' 
while  in  855   the  pirates  encamped  for  the  whole 
winter  in  the  Isle  of  Sheppey. 
^Tfthf      What  was   needed   to  shake  off  this  persistent 
/^^f^f'    attack  of  the  Wikiners  from  Gaul  was,  as  -^thel- 

vvclsJi.- 

wulf  saw,  the  alliance  and  co-operation  of  the  Prank- 
ish king  who  was  struggling  against  them  in  Gaul 
itself.  If  the  first  result  of  the  pirate  storm  had 
been  to  further  English  unity  by  allying  the  new 
English  State  with  the  English  Church,  its  second 
result  was  to  force  the  State  into  closer  relations 
with  its  fellow  states  of  Christendom.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  his  reign  ^thelwulf  had  opened  commu- 
nications with  the  Emperor  Lewis  the  Gentle  for 
common  action  in  meeting  the  common  danger; 
but  it  is  in  his  later  years  that  we  see  the  first  dis- 
tinct announcement  of  an  international  policy,  the 
first  English  recognition  of  a  common  interest 
among  the  western  nations,  in  the  resolve  of  the 
king  to  cross  the  seas  for  counsel  and  concert  with 
Charles  the  Bald.     Work,  however,  had  to  be  done 


'  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  853. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND,        ^y 

before  he  could  quit  the  realm.'     On  both  sides  of  chap.  h. 
the  Channel,  as  we  have  seen,  the  appearance  of  the     The 
foe  from  the  north  had  given  a  signal  for  the  upris-  ^otthe 
ing  of  the  Celt ;  and  while  in  Gaul  the  Bretons  had  bikings, 
shaken  off  the  yoke  of  Charles  the  Bald  and  set  up  829-858. 
again  a  Breton  kingdom   under   Breton  kings,  in 
Britain  the   West  Welsh  had    risen  against  their 
West-Saxon  over-lords,  and  the  North  Welsh  had 
thrown  off  the  Mercian  supremacy.     So  formidable, 
indeed,  was  the  last  revolt,  that,  in  853,  two  years 
after  the  battle  of  Aclea,  the  Mercian  king  Burh- 
red,  Beorhtwulf 's  successor,  was  forced  to  appeal  to 
his  West-Saxon  over-lord  for  aid;  and  it  was  only 
a  march   of   their  joint   forces   into    the   heart  of 
North  Wales,  with  the  conquest  of  Anglesea,  that 
forced   the   Welsh    ruler,  Roderic   Mawr,  again  to 
own  the  English  supremacy  and  to  pay  tribute  to 
Mercia. 

In  spite  of  the  wintering:  of  a  pirate  force  in  Shep-  ^t^^ei- 
pey,  the  two  truimphs  of  ^^thelwulf  m  Surrey  and  to  charies 
in  Wales  left  Britain  sufficiently  tranquil  in  854  to 
suffer  him  to  leave  its  shores.  His  first  journey, 
however,  recalls  to  us  how  much  more  the  danger 
from  the  marauders  seemed  to  men  of  that  day  a 
religious  than  a  political  one.  He  undertook  a  pil- 
grimage to  Rome.  We  know  little  of  the  pilgrim- 
age or  of  his  stay  at  the   imperial  city,  though  it 

*  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  853  ;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  6.  One  part 
of  ^thelwulf  s  preparation  was  the  grant  of  a  sixth  part  of  the  rents 
from  his  private  dominions  for  ecclesiastical  and  charitable  purposes 
(Asser,  ed.  Wise,  p.  8).  By  an  early  fraud,  this  was  represented  as 
a  grant  of  a  tenth  of  the  whole  revenue  of  the  kingdom,  and  as 
the  legal  origin  of  tithes.  See  Kemble,  Saxons  in  England,  ii.  480- 
490. 


78        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  II,  lasted  a  whole  year,  and  cannot  but  have  served  to 
The     draw  closer  the  connection  of  the  English  Church 

^onh?  with    the    Mother  Church   from  which  it   sprang. 

wikings.  pi-Qm  Rome,  however,  he  passed,  at  length,  to  the 

829-858.  court  of  the  Franks.  Blow  after  blow  had  shattered 
the  Prankish  state  since  Ecgberht,  half  a  century 
earlier,  quitted  Charles  the  Great  to  seek  his  throne 
in  Wessex.  The  vast  realm  had  been  torn  to  pieces 
by  the  dissensions  of  its  rulers,  as  well  as  by  the 
revival  of  national  spirit  among  the  peoples  out  of 
whom  it  had  been  built  up,  A  ring  of  enemies  had 
gathered  round  it  on  every  border.  Sclaves  and 
Magyars  pressed  on  its  German  frontier.  The 
Northmen  carried  fire  and  sword  over  western 
Frankland,  the  country  west  of  the  Meuse  and  the 
Rhone,  a  fragment  of  the  old  Frank  realm  which 
had  fallen  in  the  strife  that  followed  the  death  of 
Lewis  the  Gentle  to  his  youngest  son,  Charles  the 
Bald.  The  reign  of  Charles  had  as  yet  been  one  of 
terrible  misfortunes ;  for,  brave  and  active  as  he  was, 
his  vigor  spent  itself  fruitlessly  on  the  crowd  of  foes 
who  surrounded  him — on  the  rising  of  the  Breton, 
the  revolt  of  Gascony,  the  strife  of  his  own  house 
for  rule,  the  never-ceasing  forays  of  the  Northmen. 
Beaten  and  baffled  as  he  seemed,  however,  Charles 
fought  on;  and  the  struggle  of  the  harassed  king, 
if  it  failed  to  save  his  own  realm,  did  somewhat  to 
save  ^thelwulf  s.  The  visit  of  ^^thelwulf  to  the 
Frankish  court,  where  he  spent  three  months  in  the 
summer  of  856,  was  a  recognition  of  their  common 
work;  and  his  marriage  with  the  Frank  king's 
young  daughter,  Judith,  with  which  the  visit  closed, 
marks  probably  the  conclusion  of  a  formal  alliance. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^^ 

perhaps   of    a    common   plan    of   operations    with  chap,  h. 
Charles  the  Bald.'  The 

But  the  policy  of  ^Ethelwulf  was  in  advance  of    oTth? 
his  age.     England  had  hardly  as  yet  realized  the  ^^^^s- 
need  of  national  unity,  and  outside  the  king's  coun-  829-868. 
oil  chamber  there  can  have  been  few  who  understood  ^^thei- 
the  need  of  union  between  the  nations  of  Christen-  Tirnln'd 
dom.     The  descents  of  the  Wikings  had  as  yet,  with    '^^''^^'' 
a  single  exception,  been  but  isolated  plunder-raids, 
and  their  very  success  against  the  invaders  would 
help  to  blind  Englishmen  to  a  sense  of  their  danger. 
The  new  connection  with  the  Prankish  king,  on  the 
other  hand,  may  have  roused  suspicions  of  a  plan 
for  setting  aside  the  elder  sons    of  ^thelwulf  in 
favor  of  the  issue  of  his  marriage  wuth  Judith;  and 
if  such  suspicions  were  once  aroused,  they  would  be 
quickened  by  the  coronation  of  the  queen,  a  cere 
mony  which  was  as  yet  against  the  wont  of  the 
West  Saxons."     Whatever  was  the  cause  of  the  ris- 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  855  ;  Prudent.  Tree.  Ann.  a.  856  (ap.  Pertz.  i.  450), 
who  dates  the  be'trothal  in  July,  the  marriage  at  Verberie  on  the 
Oise  on  Oct.  i.says  that  Hincmar,  "imposito  capiti  ejus  diademate 
reginae  nomine  insignit,  quod  sibi  suaeque  genti  eatenus  fuerat  insue- 
tum."  The  marriage  can  have  only  been  a  formal  one,  as  Judith 
was  but  twelve  years  old.  The  marriage  of  Judith  to  ^thelbald,  on 
his  father's  death,  had,  no  doubt,  the  same  purely  political  meaning. 

■''  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  9;  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  169. 
At  some  time  before  .^thelwulf  s  journey  the  question  of  the  suc- 
cession had  been  settled  in  a  somewhat  peculiar  way.  His  next 
successor  would  naturally  be  his  eldest  son,  the  "  Eastern  King," 
.^thelstan  ;  but,  whether  from  the  failing  health  which  the  death  of 
^thelstan  soon  after  may  indicate  or  no,  it  seems  to  have  been  need- 
ful to  look  further,  and  to  arrange  that  the  crown  should  pass,  at  his 
death,  to  his  three  brothers  successively  in  the  order  of  their  birth, 
setting  aside  the  children  of  all  of  them,  ^thelstan  died  before  his 
father's  return ;  and  the  next  son,  ^thelbald,  may  have  looked  on 
the  alleged  coronation  of  his  youngest  brother  Alfred  at  Rome,  or 


8o        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHARir.  ing,  on  his  return  at  the  close  of  856  ^thelwulf 
The  found  Wessex  in  arms.  In  a  gathering  at  Sel- 
^Tthe  wood '  its  thegns  had  pledged  themselves  to  place 
wikings.  ^j^^  king's  eldest  living  son,  ^thelbald — who  on  the 
829-858.  death  of  his  brother  y^thelstan,  a  few  years  back, 
had  succeeded  him  in  charge  of  the  Eastern  King- 
dom— on  the  throne  of  Wessex,  and  their  course  was 
backed  by  Bishop  Ealhstan  of  Sherborne.  Swith- 
un,  on  the  other  hand,  remained  true  to  i^thel- 
wulf,  and  the  Kentishmen  welcomed  him  back  to 
their  shores.  But  ^thelwulf  had  no  mind  for  civil 
strife.  He  was  already  drawing  fast  to  the  grave; 
and  if  we  judge  his  conduct  by  the  past  history  of 
his  reign,  rather  than  by  the  charges  of  weakness 
which  later  tradition  brought  against  him,  we  may 
see  in  his  summons  of  a  Witenagemot  to  settle  this 
question  the  reluctance  of  a  noble  ruler  to  purchase 
power  for  himself  by  again  rending  England  asun- 
der in  the  face  of  the  foe.  The  voice  of  the  Witan 
bade  i^thelwulf  content  himself  with  the  Eastern 
Kingdom ;  and,  abandoning  Wessex  to  ^thelbald, 
the  king  dwelt  quietly  in  this  under-realm  for  the 
brief  space  of  life  which  still  was  left  him." 

on  the  marriage  with  Judith,  as  threatening  his  right  of  succession 
under  this  arrangement. 

^  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  8. 

=  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  170 ;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  9. 


^UNIVERSI-TT 


Britain. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  MAKING  OF  THE  DANELAW. 
858-878. 

A  FEW  months  af ter^  his  withdrawal  to  the  Eastern  ^^^ 
realm  brought  i^thelwulf  to  the  grave,  at  the  open-  tack^  on 
ing  of  858;'  and  -^thelbald  enjoyed  but  for  two 
years  longer  the  crown  which  revolt  had  given  him. 
The  reign  of  his  brother  ^thelberht,"  who  followed 
him  in  860,  was  almost  as  short  arid  uneventful; 
and  for  some  years  there  was  little  to  break  the 
peace  of  the  land  save  a  raid  of  the  Northmen  on 
Winchester,'  which  was  avenged  by  the  men  of 
Hamptonshire  and  Berkshire  under  their  ealdor- 
men,*  and  a  ravaging  of  the  eastern  shores  of  Kent 
by  pirates  from  Gaul  in  864.  But  with  the  death 
of  ^thelberht  and  the  accession  of  his  next  sur- 

>  "  Idibus  Januarii,"  Prud.  Tree.  Ann.  a.  858  (ap.  Pertz.  i.  451). 

"  By  yEthelwulf  s  will,  ^thelberht,  who  succeeded  him  as  under- 
king  in  Kent,  should  have  remained  there  at  -^thelbald's  death, 
while  Wessex  fell  to  his  younger  brother  ^thelred ;  but  the  will 
must  have  been  set  aside  by  the  Witan  as  inconsistent  with  the  ar- 
rangement by  which  the  brothers  were  to  follow  one  another  in  or- 
der of  age.  Both  the  bequest  and  the  setting  aside  are  of  the  high- 
est import  for  our  after  history ;  the  first  as  the  earliest  known  in- 
stance of  a  claim  to  "  bequeath ''  the  crown  as  a  personal  property, 
the  second  as  showing  such  a  claim  to  be  as  yet  not  admitted. 

'  This  was  under  Weland,  whom  we  find  before  and  after  this  in 
the  Seine  and  the  Somme. — Munch,  Det  Norske  Folks  Hist.  pt.  iv. 
pp.  200,  209,  210. 

♦  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  860. 

6 


82        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  Ill,  viving  brother,  ^^thelred,  in  866,  the  northern  storm 
The  broke  with  far  other  force  upon  Britain.'  Its  occu- 
^fVhe^  pation  had  now,  indeed,  become  almost  a  necessity 
Danelaw,  f^j.  ^.j^^  Wikings.  It  was  the  one  measure  which 
858-878.  could  draw  their  other  conquests  together.  They 
already  occupied  the  Faroes  and  the  Shetlands,  the 
Orkney  Isles  and  the  Hebrides.  On  either  side  of 
Britain  they  were  a  settled  power.  The  west  coast 
of  Ireland  was  dotted  with  their  towns,  while  east- 
ward their  settlements  formed  a  broken  line  from 
Friesland  to  Bordeaux.  But,  in  the  very  heart  of 
their  field  of  operatidns,  Britain  still  lay  uncon- 
quered,  for  their  descents  on  its  shores  had  only 
ended  as  yet  in  hard  fighting  and  defeat.  And  yet 
it  was  the  winning  of  Britain  which  was  needed 
above  all  to  support  and  widen  their  conquests  to 
the  eastward  and  westward  of  it.  Had. the  pirates 
once  become  masters  of  this  central  post  the  face 
of  the  west  must  have  changed.  .Backed  by  a 
Scandinavian  Britain,  their  isolated  colonies  along 
the  Irish  coast  must  have  widened  into  a  dominion 
over  all  Ireland,  while  their  settlement  along  the 
Prankish  coast  might  have  grown  into  a  territory 
stretching  over  much  of  Gaul.  In  a  word,  Christen- 
dom would  have  seen  the  rise  of  a  power  upon  its 
border  which  might  have  changed  the  fortunes  of 
the  western  world.  Such  political  considerations, 
indeed,  can    hardly    have    affected    any    save    the 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  866.  ^thelred's  accession  marks  a  new 
step  forward  in  the  consolidation  of  Wessex.  Kent  and  its  depend- 
encies are  no  longer  left  detached  as  a  separate  under-kingdom ; 
and  the  king's  younger  brother^  JEMred,  who  would  otherwise  have 
succeeded  to  the  Kentish  under-kingdom,  becomes  "  Secundarius." 
— Asser  (ed.  Wise),  pp.  19,  22. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        g^ 

leaders  of  the  northern  warriors,  but  for  every  war-  chap.  m. 
rior  there  was  the  ceaseless  pressure  of  the  pirates'     The 
greed/     Now  that  its  abbeys  were  wrecked,  there    of  the^ 
was  little  booty  to  be  got  from  Ireland;  and  even  ^*^*^- 
Gaul,  wasted  as  it  had  been  for  half  a  century,  was  858-878. 
ceasing    to   be    a   prey   worth   much    fighting   for. 
Britain,  however,  still    lay    practically    untouched. 
No  spoiler's  hand  had  fallen  on  most  of  its  greater 
monasteries.     No  pirate's  hand  had  as  yet  wrung 
ransom  from  its  royal  hoards.     From  the  opening 
of  i^thelred's  reign,  therefore,  Britain  became  the      p/ 
main  field  of  northern  attack. 

The  name,  however,  under  which  its  assailants  ^'^.^ 
were  known  suggests  that  a  reason  for  the  choice  of  the 
of  this  new  field  of  warfare,  even  more  powerful 
than  greed  or  ambition,  lay  in  the  appearance  of  a 
new  body  of  assailants.'  It  is  now  that  we  first  hear 
of  the  Danes.  The  assailants  of  the  Franks  had 
been  drawn,  as  we  have  seen,  from  the  Northmen  of 
South  Jutland,  those  of  Ireland  from  the  Northmen 
of  Norway.  But  while  these  earlier  Wikings  were 
doing  their  work  on  either  side  of  Britain,  another 
people  of  the  same  Scandinavian  blood  had  been 
taking  form  along  the  southwestern  coast  of  the 
present  Sweden,  and  had  spread  from  thence  over 
Zeeland  with  its  fellow- isles  and  the  north  of  our 
Jutland."     These  were  the  men  who  now  came  to 

^  Hen.  Huntingdon,  Hist.  Angl.,  lib.  v.  prooem.  (ed.  Arnold,  p.  138), 
puts  this  well :  "  Daci  vero  terram  .  .  .  non  obtinere  sed  praedari  stu- 
debant,  et  omnia  destruere,  non  dominari  cupiebant." 

=*  See  Dahlmann,  Gesch.  von  Dannemark,  i.  65. 

'  From  Othere's  voyage  (in  Alfred's  Orosius),  which  is  our  earliest 
historical  authority,  it  is  clear  that  the  Danes  had  reached  these  lim- 
its before  the  close  of  the  ninth  century. 


84        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  III.  the  front  under  the  name  of  the  Danes ;  and  that 
The     they  brought  a  new  force  and  a  more  national  Hfe 
*of  th?  to  the  struggle  is  plain  from  the  character  which  it 
Danelaw,  immediately  took.     The  petty  squadrons  which  had 
858-878.  till  now  harasscd  the  coast  of  Britain  made  way  for 
hosts  larger  than  had  fallen  on  any  country  in  the 
west;  while  raid  and  foray  were  replaced  by  the 
regular  campaigns  of  armies  who  marched  to  con- 
quer, and  whose  aim  was  to  settle  on  the  land  they 
had  won. 
Character      fhe  numbcrs  in  which  the  Danes  drew  tosrether 

ofthetr  1     1      .  .  11 

warfare,  showcd  thcir  cousciousucss  that  the  work  they  were 
taking  in  hand  was  work  such  as  the  pirates  had 
never  taken  in  hand  before.  But  their  numbers  are 
far  from  explaining  the  rapidity  and  completeness 
of  their  success  in  the  coming  strife.  The  real 
force  of  the  northern  warriors,  in  fact,  everywhere  lay 
not  in  numbers,  but  in  their  superiority  as  soldiers 
to  the  men  they  met.  As  assailants,  indeed,  their 
natural  advantages  were  great ;  for  their  mastery  of 
the  sea  gave  them  along  every  coast  a  secure  basis 
of  operations,  while  every  river  furnished  a  road  for 
their  advance.'  But  the  caution  and  audacity  with 
which  they  availed  themselves  of  these  advantages 
showed  a  natural  genius  for  war.  To  seize  a  head- 
land or  a  slip  of  land  at  a  river  mouth,  to  draw  a 
( 

^  It  is  possible  that  the  boats  which  may  be  seen  making  up  the 
Humber  with  the  tide  to  Goole  and  the  Trent,  and  which  are  still 
known  as  "  keels,"  may  fairly  represent  to  us  "  keels  "  of  earlier 
times.  Their  large,  red-brown  sails,  about  seventy  feet  long,  are  but 
a  few  feet  shorter  than  that  of  the  Wikings'  ship  of  Gokstad ;  sails 
of  that  kind  rising  above  the  fringe  of  reeds  and  over  the  long  reach- 
es of  marsh-land  must  often  have  struck  terror  into  the  dwellers  on 
the  Humbrian  shores. — (A.  S.  G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND         ^S^J^^*'  ' 

trench  across  It  and  back  their  trench  with  eartn-^^^T  m  " 
works,  to  haul  up  their  vessels  within  this  camp  and  The 
assign  it  a  camp-guard,  was  the  prelude  to  each  oftii? 
northern  foray;  and  it  was  only  when  their  line  of  ^^^*^- 
retreat  was  secured  that  they  pushed  into  the  heart  858-878. 
of  the  land/  From  the  moment  of  their  advance 
caution  seemed  exchanged  for  a  reckless  daring. 
But  their  daring  was  far  from  being  reckless.  They 
were,  in  fact,  the  first  European  warriors  who  re- 
alized the  value  of  quick  movement  in  war.  The 
earliest  w^ork  of  the  marauders  was  to  seize  horses ; 
once  mounted,  they  rode,  pillaging,  into  the  heart 
of  the  land;  and  the  speed  with  which  they  hurried 
along  baffled  all  existing  means  of  defence.  While 
alarm  beacbns  were  flaming  out  on  hill  and  head- 
land, while  shire-reeve  and  town-reeve  were  muster- 
ing men  for  the  fyrd,  the  Dane  had  already  swooped 
upon  abbey  and  grange.  When  the  shire-host  was 
fairly  mustered,  the  foe  was  back  within  his  camp ; 
and  the  country  folk  wasted  their  valor  upon  en- 
trenchments which  held  them  easily  at  bay  till  the 
black  boats  were  shoved  off  to  sea  again.  Nor  was 
this  all.  The  Danes  were  as  superior  to  their  op- 
ponents in  tactics  as  In  strategy.  An  encounter 
between  the  shire-levies  and  the  pirates  was  a  strug- 
gle of  militia  with  regular  soldiers.  The  Scandina- 
vian war-band  was  a  band  of  drilled  warriors,  tried 

*  In  their  own  land,  which  was  penetrated  throughout  by  arms  of 
the  sea,  no  spot  lay  more  than  ten  miles  from  the  water,  and  the 
whole  country  was  thus  necessarily  exposed  to  pirate  raids,  such  as 
those  of  the  Wendish  sea-rovers,  who,  for  a  time,  made  a  part  of  the 
coast  of  Jutland  a  mere  desert.  It  was  under  these  conditions  that 
the  Danes  had  learned  their  special  mode  of  warfare.  See  Dahl- 
mann,  Geschichte  von  Dannemark,  i.  129,  136. — (A.  S.  G.) 


Danes  in 
Ireland. 


86        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  in  a  hundred  forays,  knit  together  by  discipline  and 
The  mutual  trust,  grouped  round  a  leader  of  their  own 
of  th?  choosing,  and  armed  from  head  to  foot.  Outnum- 
Daneiaw.  }^^^  them  as  they  might,  a  host  of  farmers  hurried 
858-878.  from  their  ploughs,  armed  with  what  weapons  each 
found  to  hand,  were  no  match  for  soldiers  such  as 
these. 
^^^^ .  It  was  now  nearly  fourteen  years  since  the  Danes 
had  appeared  in  the  western  seas.  In  852  a  force 
of  these  "  Dubh-Gaill,"  or  Dark  Strangers,  made  its 
way  to  the  Irish  coast  under  a  sea  king  called  Olaf 
the  Fair,  himself  no  Dane,  but  a  son  of  one  of  the 
petty  rulers  of  the  Norwegian  Upland ; '  and  after 
hard  fighting  with  the  "  Finn-Gaill,"  or  White  Stran- 
gers, the  Norwegians  whom  it  found  in  possession  of 
the  pirate  field,  the  Danes  withdrew,  to  return  four 
years  after  in  overwhelming  force.  From  856  the 
Wikings  about  Ireland  submitted  to  Olaf,  and  his 
occupation  of  Dublin  made  it  the  centre  of  the  Ost- 
men."  At  the  same  time  Ivar  the  Boneless,  who, 
whether  a  son  of  the  mysterious  Ragnar  Lodbrok 
or  no,  was  a  Skioldung,  or  of  the  kingly  race  among 
the  Danes,  seems  from  the  Irish  annals  to  have  been 
fighting  in  Munster.  But  for  ten  years  we  see  noth- 
ing more  of  these  leaders  or  of  their  Danish  follow- 
ers ;  and  it  is  not  till  866  that  we  find  them  united 
in  an  attack  on  the  greater  island  of  Britain. 
While  the  Ostmen  gathered  in  a  fleet  of  two  hun- 
dred vessels  under  Olaf  the  Fair,  and  threw  them- 

^  The  Landnama  Book  calls  him  a  son  of  King  Ingialld,  who  came 
of  the  stock  of  Halfdan  W^hitefoot,  King  of  Upland. 

"^  Todd,  War  of  Gaedhill  and  Gaill,  Introd.  pp.  Ixxviii.  Ixxix.  "  Ost- 
men "  was  the  name  given  to  the  pirates  settled  on  the  east  coast  of 
Ireland.— (A.  S.  G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        3^ 

selves  on  the   Scot  kingdom  across   the   Firth  of  chap.  m. 
Forth,  a  Danish  host  from  Scandinavia  itself,  under     The 
Ivar  the  Boneless,  landed  in  866  on  the  shores  of  ^f?ijf 
East  Anglia.^     We  can  hardly  doubt  that  this  dis-  ^^neiaw. 
trict  had  been  the  object  of  many  attacks  since  the  858-878. 
raid  on  its  shores  which  is  recorded  more  than  twen- 
ty years  before,"  for  the  Danes  were  suffered  to  win- 
ter within  its  bounds,  and  it  was  only  in  the  spring 
of  867  that  they  horsed  themselves  and  rode  for  the 
north. 

Their  aim  was  Northumbria ;  and  as  they  struck 
over  Mid-Britain  for  York  they  found  the  country 
torn  by  the  wonted  anarchy,  and  two  rivals  contend- 
ing, as  of  old,  for  the  throne.  Though  the  claimants 
united  in  presence  of  this  common  danger,  their  union 
came  too  late."  The  Danes  had  seized  York  at  their 
first  arrival,  and  now  fell  back  before  the  Northum- 
brian host  to  shelter  within  its  defences,  which  seem 
still  to  have  consisted  of  a  wooden  stockade  crown- 
ing the  mound  raised  by  the  last  Roman  burghers 
round  their  widened  city.*  The  flight  and  seeming 
panic  of  their  foes  roused  the  temper  of  the  North- 
umbrians; they  succeeded  in  breaking  through  the 
stockade,  and,  pouring  in  with  its  flying  defenders, 

^  The  English  Chronicle  calls  it  a  "  micel  here,"  but  names  no 
leader,  ^thelweard,  however,  calls  it  "  classis  tyranni  Igvi-ares ;" 
and  the  Chronicle  names  Inguar  and  his  brother  Hubba  as  leaders 
of  the  "  here"  when  it  conquered  East  Anglia  four  years  later.  The 
lists  of  after  writers  are  made  up  of  all  the  names  mentioned  in  the 
subsequent  story.  I  have  omitted  all  reference  to  the  legend  of 
Ragnar  Lodbrok's  death,  which  does  not  make  its  appearance  for  a 
couple  of  centuries. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  838.       ^  Sim.  Durh.,  Hist.  Dun.  Eccl.  lib.  ii.  c.  vi. 

*  "  Non  enim  tunc  adhuc  ilia  civitas  flrmos  et  stabilitos  muros  illis 
temporibus  habebat." — Asser  (Wise),  p.  18. 


S8  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  III.  'vvere  already  masters  of  the  bulk  of  the  town  when 
The     the  Danes  turned  in  a  rally  of  despair.     From  that 
of  th?  moment  the  day  was  lost.     Not  only  were  the  two 
Danelaw,  j^j^gs  slain,  but  their  men  were  hunted  and  cut  down 
858-878.  over  all  the  country-side,  till  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole 
host  of  Northumbria  lay  on  the  fatal  field.'     So  over- 
whelming was  the  blow  that  a  general  terror  hindered 
all  further  resistance ;  those  who  survived  the  fight 
"  made  peace  with  the   Pagans,"  and  Northumbria 
sank,  without  further  struggle,  into  a  tributary  king- 
dom of  the  Dane. 

NorthtL-  -^^^  *^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  freedom  was  only  the  first  re- 
bria.  sult  of  this  terrible  overthrow.  With  freedom  went 
the  whole  learning  and  civilization  of  the  North. 
These,  as  we  have  seen,  were  concentrated  in  the 
great  abbeys  which  broke  the  long  wastes  from  the 
Humber  to  the  Forth,  and  whose  broad  lands  had 
as  yet  served  as  refuge  for  what  remained  of  order 
and  industry  in  the  growing  anarchy  of  the  country. 
But  it  was  mainly  the  abbeys  that  roused  the  pirates' 
greed ;  and  so  unsparing  was  their  attack  after  the 
victory  at  York '  that,  in  what  had  till  now  been  the 
main  home  of  English  monasticism,  monasticism 
wholly  passed  aw^ay.  The  doom  that  had  long  ago 
fallen  on  Jarrow  and  Wearmouth  fell  now  on  all  the 
houses  of  the  coast.  The  abbey  of  Tynemouth  was 
burned.  Streoneshealh,  the  house  of  Hild  and  of 
Cadmon,  vanished  so  utterly  that  its  very  name  dis- 

^  "  Illic  maxima  ex  parte  omnes  Nortlianhymbrensium  coeti,  Deci- 
sis duobus  regibus^  cum  multis  nobilibus  deleti  occubuerunt." — As- 
ser  (Wise),  p.  i8.  Flor.  Wore,  gives  the  date  of  this  battle  as  Palm 
Sunday,  or  March  21,  867. 

'  Bernicia,  however,  was  not  ravaged  nor  its  abbeys  destroyed  till 
Halfdene's  raid  in  875. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        3q 

appeared,  and  the  little  township  which  took  its  place  chap.  m. 
in  later  days  bore  the  Danish  name  of  Whitby.  It  The 
was  the  same  with  the  inland  houses.  Cuthbert's  ^nJJIf 
Melrose,  Ceadda's  Lastingham,  no  longer  broke  the  ^^^a^- 
silence  of  Tweeddale  or  Pickering.  If  Wilfrid's  858-878. 
church  at  Ripon  still  remained  standing/  his  ab- 
bey perished ;  and  though  Archbishop  .^thelberht's 
church  still  towered  over  York  in  the  glory  of  its 
new  stonework,  we  hear  no  more  of  library  or  school. 
As  a  see,  indeed,  York,  in  time,  profited  by  the  blow. 
On  the  general  fabric  of  the  church  in  the  north  it 
fell  heavily :  after  the  sack  of  Holy  Island,  the  Bish- 
op of  Lindisfarne  was  hunted  from  refuge  to  refuge 
with  the  relics  of  Cuthbert ; '  the  Bishop  of  Lindsey 
was  driven  to  seek  a  new  home  in  the  south ;  while 
the  bishopric  at  Hexham  came  wholly  to  an  end." 
But  the  ruin  of  its  fellow-sees  brought  to  York  a 
new  greatness.  As  representative  of  conquered 
Northumbria,  and  as  the  one  power  which  remained 
permanent  amidst  the  endless  revolutions  of  the  pi- 
rate state  which  superseded  it,  the  Primate  at  York 
became  the  religious  centre  of  the  North  at  a  mo- 
ment when  the  North  regained  the  political  individ- 
uality it  seemed  to  have  lost  since  the  days  of  Ead- 
berht.*  The  gain  of  the  primacy,  however,  was  a 
small  matter  beside  the  losses  of  the  country  at  large. 
The  blows  of  the  Dane  were  aimed  with  so  fatal  a 
precision  at  the  centres  of  its  religious  and  intellec- 
tual life  that  of  the  houses  which  served  as  the  schools, 
libraries,  and  universities  of  Northumbria  not  one 

*  It  was  destroyed  by  Eadred  in  948. 

"  Sim.  Durh.,  Hist.  Dun.  Eccl.  lib.  ii.  c.  vi. 

'  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  274.  *  Ibid.  273. 


go        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  remained  standing  in  the  regions  over  which  the 

The     conquerors  swept.     So  thoroughly  was  the  work  of 

of  thef  destruction  done  that  the  country  where  letters  and 

Danelaw,  culture  had  till  now  found  their  favorite  home  re- 

858-878.  mained  for  centuries  to  come  the  rudest  and  most 

ignorant  part  of  Britain. 
Daues        ^^  ^^'^'  howcvcr,  the  Danes  seem  to  have  had  lit- 

threaten  tie  aim  but  plundcr ;  and  they  were  hardly  masters 
of  Deira  when,  setting  up  Ecgberht  as  an  under- 
lying,' they  turned  to  seek  new  spoil  in  the  south. 
They  seized  the  passage  of  the  Trent  at  Nottingham, 
formed  their  winter  camp  there,'  and  threatened 
Mercia  in  the  coming  spring.  But  their  way  was 
suddenly  barred.  At  the  threat  of  invasion  the  Mer- 
cian king,  Burhred,  with  his  Witan,  called  for  aid 
from  his  West-Saxon  over-lord."  The  inaction  of 
-^thelred  through  the  strife  in  Northumbria  shows 
that,  in  spite  of  the  submission  at  Dore,*  the  north- 
ern realm  stood  practically  without  the  West-Saxon 
supremacy.  But  time  and  the  policy  of  the  house 
of  Ecgberht  had  tightened  the  bonds  which  linked 
central  Britain  to  the  West-Saxon  crown ;  and  the 
appeal  for  help  against  the  Welsh  in  ^thelwulfs 
days,  as  now  for  help  against  the  Danes,  shows  that 
Mercia  thoroughly  recognized  its  position  as  an 
under-kingdom.  The  call  was  heard,  and  a  rapid 
march  brought  ^thelred's  host  to  the  Danish  front 

^  "Sub  suo  dominio  regem  Ecgberhtum  praefecerunt."  —  Sim. 
Durh.,  Hist.  Dun.  Eccl.  lib.  ii.  c.  vi. 

"  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  pp.  19,  20 ;  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  868. 

^  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  19. 

*  The  Northumbrians  had  owned  Ecgberht  as  their  over-lord  at 
Dore,  on  the  borders  of  Derbyshire  and  Yorkshire,  in  827.  Eng. 
Chron.  a.  827.— (A.  S.  G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        qj  ' 

at  the  passage  of  the  Trent.     At  the  head  of  his  chap.  m. 
joint  army  of  Mercians  and  West  Saxons  the  king     The 
sought  at  once  to  give  battle.     The  Danes,  however,  ""Jf^^ 
were  too  good  soldiers  to  be  drawn  into  the  field ;  ^^neiaw. 
they  fell  back  on  their  invariable  policy  of  fighting  858-878. 
behind  earthworks,  and  the  defences  of  their  camp 
proved  too  strong  to  be  broken  through,  even  by  the 
fierce  attacks  of  the  English  host.'     But  if  ^thel- 
red  failed  to  crush  the  Dane,  he  at  any  rate  saved 
Mercia,  for  a  peace  between  the  Danes  and  Mercians 
at  last  parted  the   combatants.     While   ^thelred 
withdrew  to  Wessex,  the  Danes  fell  back,  baffled,  to 
winter  at  York ;    and  the  severity   of  their  losses 
seems  to  be  shown  by  their  inactivity  for  the  rest  of 
the  year." 

When  they  next  quitted  York,  indeed,  it  was  to     '^^^^"' 
seek  another  prey  than  Mercia.     It  was  the  wealth   of  East 
of  the  great  Fen  abbeys  that  drew  the  pirate  force,     ''*^'''' 
with  Ivar  and  his  brother  Hubba  still  at  its  head,  at 
the  close  of  869,  to  an  attack  on  the  East- Anglian 
realm.     The  Lincolnshire  men  may,  as  after  tradi- 
tion held,'  have  thrown  themselves  across  their  path ; 
but  if  so,  it  was  to  be  routed  in  as  decisive  an  over- 
throw as  that  of  York*  and  Peterborough^  Crowland, 
and  Ely  were  sacked  and  fired,  while  their  monks 
fled  or  lay  slain  among  the  ruins.     From  the  land 
of  the  Gyrwas,  however,  they  suddenly  struck  for 
East  Anglia  itself,*  and,  crossing  the  Devil's  Dyke 
without  resistance,  raised  their  winter  camp  at  Thet- 

»  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  20. 
»  Eng.  Chron.  (W^inch.).  a.  869. 

^  Ingulf  gives  plentiful  details  of  this  inroad  ;  but  it  is  impossible 
to  make  more  than  general  use  of  so  late  a  forgery. 
♦  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  870. 


Q2        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAir^ni.  ford.     The  success  of  their  inroad  was  complete. 

The      Brave  as  their  strife  with  Mercia  but  a  few  years  be- 

of  th?  fore  shows  them  to  have  been,  the  East  Engle  were 

Danelaw,  utterly  defeated  in  two  attacks  on  the  Danish  camp; 

858-878.  and  the  strife  ended  with  the  capture  of  their  king, 
Eadmund,  who  was  brought  prisoner  before  the  pi- 
rate leaders,  bound  to  a  tree,  and  shot  to  death  with 
arrows.  His  martyrdom  by  the  heathen  made  him 
the  St.  Sebastian  of  English  legend ;  in  later  days 
his  figure  gleamed  from  the  pictured  windows  of 
church  after  church  along  the  eastern  coast,  and  a 
stately  abbey  which  bore  his  name  rose  over  his  relics. 
They         How  Q^rcat  was  the  terror  stirred  by  these  succes- 

Wessex.  sivc  victorics  was  shown  m  the  action  of  Mercia,  for, 
though  still  free  from  actual  attack,  it  cowered  panic- 
stricken  before  the  Dane,  and  by  payment  of  tribute 
owned  his  supremacy.  This  submission  brought 
Wessex  face  to  face  with  the  pirates.  The  soutliern 
kingdom  stood  utterly  alone,  for  the  work  of  Ecg- 
berht  had  been  undone  at  a  blow,  and  but  five  years' 
fighting  had  sufficed  to  tear  England  north  of  Thames 
from  its  over-lordship.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  such 
a  revolution  can  have  been  wholly  wrought  by  the 
Danish  sw^ord,  or  that  conquests  so  rapid  and  so  com- 
plete as  those  of  Ivar  can  have  been  made  possible 
save  by  the  temper  of  the  lands  he  won.  The  Eng- 
lish realms  were  still,  in  fact,  far  from  owning  them- 
selves as  an  English  nation.  To  Northumbria,  to 
Mercia,  to  East  Anglia,  their  conquest  by  the  Dane 
must  have  seemed  little  save  a  transfer  from  one  for- 
eign over-lord  to  another ;  and  it  may  be  that  in 
each  of  the  three  lands  there  were  men  who  preferred 
the  supremacy  of  the  Dane  to  the  supremacy  of  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        q^ 

West  Saxon.     But  the  loss  of  the   two  kingdoms  chap.  m. 
left  Wessex  alone  before  the  heathen  foe.     The  time     The 
had  come  when  it  had  to  fight,  not  for  supremacy,  ^f^JTe^ 
but  for  life.     It  was  the  last  obstacle  in  the  pirates'  ^^^^w. 
path.     Elsewhere  all  had  gone  well  with  him.     Brit-  858-878. 
ain  seemed  on  the  point  of  becoming  a  Scandina-      ^ 
vian  land.     The  Orkney  Jarls  had  conquered  Caith- 
ness.     The  Scot  king  had  become  a  tributary  of 
the  Northmen.     Northumbria  and  East  Anglia  lay 
in  Danish  hands,  while  Mid-Britain  owned  their  su- 
premacy.    Nor  did  the  conquest  of  Wessex  promise 
to  be  a  hard  matter.     Except  in  his  one  march  upon 
Nottingham,  ^thelred  had  done  nothing  to  save 
his  under-kingdoms  from  the  wreck  ;  and  when  the 
pirate  host  set  out  from  East  Anglia  its  work  in 
southern  Britain  promised  to  be  as  easy  and  complete 
as  its  work  in  the  north. 

The  leader  in  the  new  fray  was  no  lonsfer  Ragnar  s      ^-^^ 

-  ,  ,  11.  Danes  in 

son,  Ivar,  who  seems  to  have  returned  to  his  Qon-  Berkshire. 
quest  of  Deira,  while  his  brother  Hubba  had  put 
afresh  to  sea  with  a  Wiking  fleet  which  w^e  shall  find 
later  on  in  the  Bristol  Channel,  but  Guthrum,  or 
Gorm,  who  may  (as  later  genealogies  told)  have  been 
of  kin  to  the  Gorm  who  was  soon  to  draw  the  Dan- 
ish people  together  into  a  kingdom  of  Denmark. 
With  him  marched  Baegsceg,  the  Danish  King  of 
Bernicia,  and  a  crowd  of  jarls — Sidroc  the  Old  and 
Sidroc  the  Young,  Osbern,  and  Fraena  and  Harald 
among  them.'  In  87 1  their  host  sailed  up  the  Thames 
past  London,  and  seized  a  tongue  of  land  some  half 
a  mile  from  Reading  for  its  camp."     The  country 

*  We  know  these  as  having  fallen  at  Ashdown. — Asser  (ed.  Wise), 
p.  23.  "^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  871. 


94        THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiAP^iii.  which  was  to  form  the  scene  of  the  coming  struggle 

The      was  the  square  of  rough  forest-country  to  which  the 

of  th^^  abundance  of  "  bearroc,"  or  box-trees,  among  its  wood- 

Daneiaw.  j^nds  gavc  the  name  of  Berkshire/  a  district  wedged 

858-878.  as  it  were  into  an  angle  which  the  Thames  makes 
as  it  runs  from  its  head-waters  eastward  to  Oxford, 
and  then  turns  suddenly  to  the  south  to  cleave  its 
way  through  chalk  uplands  to  Reading  and  the  Ken- 
net  valley.  The  bulk  of  the  shire  was  still  wild  and 
thinly  peopled,  for  chalk  downs  spread  over  the 
heart  of  it  from  the  Thames  to  Hampshire,  and  the 
fertile  Kennet  valley  to  the  south  lay  pressed  be- 
tween these  uplands  and  the  barren  and  tangled 
country  about  Windsor.  But  the  northern  escarp- 
ment of  the  downs  looted  over  the  broad  reaches 
of  the  Vale  of  White  Horse,  where  the  deep  clay 
soil  lent  itself  to  tillage,  where  English  settlements 
clustered  thickly,  and  manors  of  the  West -Saxon 
kings  were  scattered  over  the  land. 

Alfred.  One  of  these  king's  tuns,  that  of  Wantage,"  had 
been  the  birthplace  of  the  youngest  of  ^^thelwulfs 
sons,  the  ^theling  ^^Ifred."     Young  as  he  still  was, 

*  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  i.  "  Ilia  paga  quae  nominatur  Bearrocscire, 
quae  paga  taliter  vocatur  a  Berroc  sylva,  ubi  buxus  abundantissime 
nascitur." 

^  •'  In  viila  regia  quae  dicitur  Wanading." — Asser  (ed.  VV^ise),  p.  i. 

^  For  Alfred's  life  the  main  authority  must  be  the  work  attribu- 
ted to  Asser.  Its  genuineness,  which  was  disputed  by  Mr.  Wright 
(Biographia  Britannica  Literaria),  is  admitted  by  almost  all  other 
scholars;  though  the  critical  examination  of  Pauli  (Life  of  Alfred, 
pp.  4-1 1)  shows  in  how  damaged  a  state  the  book  has  come  down 
to  us.  In  spite  of  all  difficulties,  however,  "  no  theory  of  the  author- 
ship or  date  of  the  work,"  says  Mr.  Earle  (Parallel  Chronicles,  In- 
trod.  p.  Ivi.).  "has  ever  been  proposed  which,  on  the  whole,  meets 
the  facts  of  the  case  better  than  that  set  forth  in  the  book  itself, 
that  it  was  written  in  893."    Asser  has  embodied  the  whole  con- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        g^ 

Alfred's  life  had  been  a  stirring  and  eventful  one.  chap^ih. 
He  was  but  four  years  old  when  he  was  sent  with  a  The 
company  of  nobles  to  Rome/  on  an  embassy  which  ofth? 
paved  the  way  for  ^thelwulf's  own  visit  two  years  ^a^^- 
later,  and  he  returned  to  the  imperial  city  in  his  858-878. 
father  s  train.  The  boy's  long  stay  there,  as  well  as 
at  the  Prankish  court,  left  a  mark  on  his  mind  which 
we  can  trace  through  all  his  after-life.  English  as 
Alfred  was  to  the  core,  his  international  temper,  his 
freedom  from  a  narrow  insularism,  his  sense  of  the 
common  interests  and  brotherhood  of  Christian  na- 
tions, pointed  back  to  the  childish  days  when  he 
looked  on  the  wonders  of  Rome  or  listened  to  the 
scholars  and  statesmen  who  thronged  the  court  of 
Charles  the  Bald.  There  was  little,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  break  the  peace  of  the  land  as  the  ^theling  grew 
to  manhood  save  passing  raids  of  the  Northmen 
from  Gaul,  and  the  vigor  and  restlessness  of  the  boy's 
temper  found  no  outlet  for  itself  but  in  the  chase. 
But  the  thirst  for  knowledge  was  already  quicken- 
ing within  him.  It  was  one  of  the  bitter  regrets  of 
his  after-life  that  at  this  time,  when  he  had  leisure 
and  will  to  learn,  he  could  find  no  man  to  teach  him. 
But  what  he  could  learn  he  learned.  The  love  of 
English  verse,  which  never  left  him,  dated  from  these 
earlier  days.  It  was  a  book  of  English  songs  which 
(if  we  accept  the  story  in  spite  of  its  difficulties)'  his 
mother  promised  to  the  first  of  her  sons  who  learned 

tents  of  the  existing  chronicle  from  851  to  887,  a  point  at  which 
there  are  good  grounds  for  believing  the  Chronicle,  as  Alfred  found 
it,  to  have  ended.  This  coincidence  "  is  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
professed  date." 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  853. 

'  See  Pauli's  criticisms,  Life  of  Alfred,  p.  51. 


ge  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

ciiAP^iii.  to  read  it.     The  beauty  of  its  letters  caught  Alfred's 

The     eye,  and,  seizing  the  book  from  his  mother's  hand,  he 

of  the^  sought  a  master,  who  repeated  it  to  him  till  the  boy's 

Danelaw,  ^lemory  enabled  him  to  recite  its  poems  by  heart/ 

858-878.  j\^  ygt,  however,  his  temper  had  little  political  im- 
^'^     portance,  for  he  stood  far  from  the  throne.     But 

fosi^w/!.  death  was  already  paving  his  way  to  it.  ^thelbald 
enjoyed  the  crown  but  two  years  after  his  father's 
death ;  and  only  six  years  later  the  death  of  ^thel- 
berht  in  866,  and  the  accession  of  his  one  surviving 
brother,  ^thelred,  set  -Alfred  next  in  the  accepted 
order  of  succession  to  the  West-Saxon  throne.  The 
stress  of  events,  too,  called  him  now  to  sterner  studies 
than  those  of  letters  ;  for  though  the  consolidation  of 
the  Eastern  Kingdom  with  the  rest  of  the  monarchy 
hindered  him  from  becoming  its  under-king,  he  held 
an  office,  that  of  Secundarius,  in  which  we  may,  per- 
haps, see  a  germ  of  the  later  Justiciarship ;  and  it 
was  in  discharge  of  these  new  duties  that  he  marched, 
at  nineteen,  with  his  brother  to  the  Trent.  The  pol- 
icy of  Ecgberht's  house  aimed  at  a  close  union  with 
central  Britain :  a  sister  of  ./Alfred  was  already  wife 
of  the  Mercian  king ;  and  in  Alfred's  union  at  this 
moment  with  the  daughter  of  an  ealdorman  of  the 
Gainas,  we  see  a  trace  of  the  same  policy  which  brought 
about,  in  later  days,  the  marriage  of  his  own  daughter 
with  the  Mercian,  ^thelred.'  But  the  marriage 
feast  was  roughly  broken  up,  for  the  young  husband 
was  seized  in  the  midst  of  it  with  a  disease,  probably 
that  of  epilepsy,  from  which  he  was  never  afterwards 
to  be  wholly  free.  Neither  sickness  nor  marriage, 
however,  held  Alfred  back  from  the  field ;  he  fought 
'  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  i6.  «  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  59. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        97 

in  the  West-Saxon  ranks  at  Nottingham/  and  now  chap^ih. 
that  the  Dane  attacked  his  own  Wessex  he  led  the     The 
van  of  his  brother's  host.  of  th? 

It  may  have  been  to  save  the  home  of  his  child-  ^^^^w. 
hood  that'  the  young  aetheling  fought  so  stoutly  in  858-878. 
the  after  fights.  But  king  and  people  fought  as  success  of 
stoutly  as  JEMr^d  himself,  for  now  that  they  were 
attacked  on  their  own  ground  the  West  Saxons 
turned  fiercely  at  bay.  We  have  seen  how,  from  the 
first,  the  Gwent  had  been  screened  from  invasion  by 
the  impenetrable  barriers  that  guarded  it  on  every 
side,  and  how  the  hosts  of  its  earlier  assailants  had 
fallen  back  before  steeps  such  as  those  of  Wanbor- 
ough  and  Ashdown.  A  far  different  fortune,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  await  the  Danes.  They  had  no 
sooner  reached  Reading  than  one  of  their  marauding 
parties  was  cut  to  pieces  by  a  force  hastily  gathered 
under  the  ealdormen  of  the  district,  and  the  check 
gave  ^thelred  and  his  brother  time  to  hurry  to  the 
field ;'  but  though  the  king  at  once  assailed  the 
camp  which  the  pirates  had  formed  by  running  an 
entrenchment  from  the  Kennet  to  the  Thames,  a 
desperate  fight  ended  in  his  repulse,  and  the  defeat 
threw  open  W^essex  to  the  invaders.  As  the  beaten 
Englishmen  fell  back  along  the  Thames,  the  pirates 
pushed  rapidly  by  the  ancient  track  known  as  the 
Ridgeway,  along  the  edge  of  the  upland  which  looks 
over  the  Vale  of  White  Horse,  till  on  the  height  of 
Ashdown  they  threw  up  intrenchments  and  again 
encamped.' 

'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  868. 

"^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  871 ;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  21 . 

3  Eng.  Chron.  ( Winch .),  a.  87 1 .  ^ 

7 


gS  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.      xhe  march  of  the  Danes  showed  their  genius  for 

The     war.     They  had,  in  fact,  thrown  themselves  on  their 

ofthef  enemy's  rear,  and  not  only  cut  off  his  communica- 

Daneiaw.  ^[q^^  ^ij-j^  ^j^^  Gwent,but  turned  its  very  escarpments 

858-878.  against  him,  for  it  was  ^thelred  and  not  the  Danes 
T/ie     that  had  to  storm  the  heights  of  Ashdown  in  the 

AshdoLt.  coming  struggle.  From  such  a  post,  indeed,  all  Wes- 
sex  lay  at  the  mercy  of  the  invaders.  But  they  had 
still  to  fight  for  it,  for  neither  ^thelred  nor  Alfred 
were  men  to  give  up  hope  at  a  single  blow:  Four 
days  after  the  fight  at  Reading  the  English  army, 
reinforced  probably  by  the  men  of  Wantage  and  the 
neighborhood,  stood  again  face  to  face  with  its  foes, 
and  Alfred,  who  led  the  advance,  at  once  attacked 
them.'  Posted,  however,  as  they  were  on  a  hill  cov- 
ered with  thick  brushwood  and  sheltered  by  their 
usual  intrenchments,  the  Danes  held  the  aetheling's 
troops  stoutly  at  bay;  and  though  message  after 
message  called  i^thelred  to  his  aid,  the  king  refused 
to  march  till  the  mass  he  was  hearing  was  done. 
"  God  first  and  man  after,"  ^Ethelred  answered  his 
brother's  cry ;  and  Alfred  could  only  save  his  men 
from  utter  rout  by  charging  again  and  again, "  like 
a  wild  boar,"  up  the  slope.  The  king,  however, 
showed  a  cool  judgment  in  his  delay,  for  his  men 
were  well  in  hand  before  he  moved,  and  the  general 
advance  of  his  army  at  last  cleared  the  fatal  hill. 
The  fight  raged  fiercest  round  a  stunted  thorn-tree, 
which  men  in  after-days  noted  curiously  {"  I  have 
seen  it  with  my  own  eyes,"  says  Asser),  and  here 
with  loud  shouts  Dane  and  Englishman  battled 
hard.  But  the  shouts  were  hushed  at  last.  The 
^  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  pp.  22,  23. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        gg 

day  went  for  i^thelred.    King  Baegsceg  fell  beneath  chap,  m. 
the  sword  of  the  king  himself,  and  five  pirate  jarls     The 
lay  among  the  corpses  which  were  heaped  upon  the    of  tiief 

field.^  Danelaw. 

But,  routed  as  it  was,  Guthrum's  host  sought  shel-  858-878. 
ter  in  the  camp  at  Reading,  and  its  intrenchments^^//>v^(5^- 
again  held  the  brothers  at  bay.  The  West  Saxons  '^''^"^^  ^"'^' 
still,  indeed,  kept  their  mastery  in  the  field,  beating 
back  the  Danes  as  they  tried  a  new  dash  along  the 
line  of  the  Kennet,  and  holding  them  in  check  at 
Basing,  when  with  forces  strengthened  by  the  arri- 
val of  fresh  troops  from  the  Thames  they  struck 
southward  for  Hampshire.  But  the  camp  at  Read- 
ing remained  impregnable,  and  every  hour  of  delay 
told  fatally  against  ^thelred.  Already  weakened 
by  these  fierce  encounters,  the  West-Saxon  leader 
was  hampered  above  all  by  the  difficulty  of  holding 
his  levies  together.  Men  called  from  farm  and  field,  • 
and  looking  for  support  to  the  rations  they  brought 
with  them,  were  eager  to  fight  and  go  home ;  while 
the  Danes  were  constantly  reinforced  by  fresh-comers, 
and  spurred  to  new  efforts  by  the  need  of  procuring 
supplies  from  the  country  they  won.  A  change  in 
the  relative  weight  of  the  two  armies  at  last  showed 
itself,  for  a  new  raid  upon  Surrey  brought  the  pi- 
rates better  luck  than  its  predecessors  ;  and  after  a 
brave  fight  at  Merton,  in  which  their  king  was  mor- 
tally wounded,  the  West  Saxons  drew  off,  beaten, 
from  the  field.'  When  ^thelred's  death,  in  April,' 
added  its  gloom  to  the  gloom  of  defeat,  and  Alfred 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  871.  ^  Ibid. 

^  Flor.  of  Wore,  dates  it  three  weeks  after  Easter,  which,  in  871, 
would  make  it  April  23. 


lOo  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  took  his  place  on  the  throne,  the  young  king  (he 

The      numbered  but  two-and-twenty  years)  stood  ahtiost 

of  thT  alone  in  front  of  the  enemy,  for  at  the  news  of  his 

Danelaw.  bj-Qther's  death  the  English  levies  had  broken  up 

858-878.  and  gone  home. 
The         At  this  very  hour  a  large  fleet  of  Danes  pushed 
master    up  Thames  to  join  their  fellows  at  Reading,  and  ^1- 

Meraa.  £^^^  ^^^^  forced  to  hurry  from  his  brother's  grave  at 
Wimborne  with  what  men  he  could  muster  to  meet 
a  fresh  advance  of  the  foe.  But  with  such  forces 
little  could  be  done  to  check  their  march.  They 
seem  already  to  have  entered  the  Gwent  and  to  have 
encamped  at  Wilton,  the  early  "  tun  "  to  which  our 
Wiltshire  owes  its  name,  before  Alfred  could  meet 
them  ;'  and  a  desperate  attack  w^hich  the  young  king 
made  on  them  there  was  roughly  beaten  off.  A 
succession  of  petty  defeats  forced  Alfred  at  last  to 
a  shameful  truce ;  and,  at  the  counsel  of  his  Witan, 
he  bought  w^ith  hard  money  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Danes  from  the  land.  The  shame  was  hard  to  bear, 
for  though  bargains  of  this  sort  had  been  common 
enough  in  Ireland  and  Gaul,  a  purchased  peace  had, 
as  yet,  scarcely  been  known  among  Englishmen ; 
and  the  distress  of  ^^  If  red  may  be  seen  in  a  vow  of 
alms  to  the  holy  places  in  Rome,  and  even  in  far-off 
India,  for  deliverance  from  his  foes,  which  marked 
this  dark  hour  of  his  history."     But  if  the  gold  won 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  871 ;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  25. 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Canterbury),  a.  883.  "This  year  Sighelm  and 
i^thelstan  carried  to  Rome  the  alms  which  the  king  vowed  to  send 
thither,  and  also  to  India,  to  St.  Thomas  and  St.  Bartholomew,  when 
they  sat  down  against  the  army  at  London."  The  Danish  "  here " 
retired,  after  the  truce,  to  winter  at  London  (Eng.  Chron.  a.  872) ; 
but  we  have  no  account  of  iElf red's  sitting  down  against  them  ;  and 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       jqI 

a  respite  for  Wessex,  it  left  the  pirates  free  to  com-  chap,  m. 
plete  their  work  in  the  centre  of  the  island.     Grant-     The 
ing  peace,  no  doubt  on  terms  of  tribute,  to  the  ruler    of  tii? 
of  Mid-Britain,  the  host  after  a  year  spent  in  North-  ^a^^w. 
umbria,  returned  to  its  camp  at  Torksey,  in  Lincoln-  858-878. 
shire,  to  gather  fresh  forces  for  a  new  campaign ;' 
then,  in  the  spring  of  874,  the  Danes  burst  upon 
Mercia.     We  hear  of  no  resistance.     King  Burhred 
fled  over  sea  without  striking  a  blow  to  find  refuge 
and  a  grave  at  Rome ;  while  his  conquerors,  setting 
up  a  puppet  king,  Ceolwulf,  in  his  room,  took  oath 
of  vassalage  from  him  and  his  subjects,  and  wintered 
at  Repton,  sacking  and  firing  the  great  ibbey  which 
served  as  the  burial-place  of  the  Mercian  kings." 

Their  mastery  of  central  Britain,  however,  only  ^iy^jon 
served  to  give  the  Danes  a  firmer  base  from  which  Danish 
to  complete  their  conquest  of  the  island,  both  in 
north  and  south.  With  the  spring  of  875  their 
force  broke  asunder :  one  part  of  it,  with  Halfdene 
at  its  head,  marching  northward  to  the  Tyne  to 
complete  the  reduction  of  Bernicia.'  The  aim  of 
the  pirates  still  remained  mainly  that  of  plunder, 
and  the  religious  houses  which  had  escaped  till 
now  fell   in  this   fiercer  storm.     Coldingham,  the 

as  this  is  a  late  copy  of  the  Chronicle,  its  entry  may  be  a  mere  blun- 
der for  Asser's  entry,  "  Paganorum  exercitus  Lundoniam  adiit  et  ibi 
hiemavit,"  or,  rather,  Huntingdon's  copy  of  this,  "quando  hostilis 
exercitus  hiemavit  apud  Lundoniam." 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (VVTinch.),  a.  873. 

*  Eng.  Chron,  (Winch.),  a.  874;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  26;  ^thel- 
weard,  a.  872.  "  Myrcii  confirmant  cum  eis  foederis  pactum  stipendi- 
aque  statuunt."  From  the  Chronicle  it  seems  that  the  Danes  took 
part  of  Mercia,  leaving  part  to  Ceolwulf.  Is  this  the  beginning  of 
the  division  into  Danish  and  English  Mercia.? 

'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  875. 


host. 


I02  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  house  of  Ebbe,  was  burned  to  the  ground.  Bishop 
The  Eardulf  was  driven  from  Lindisfarne,  carrying  with' 
^nh?  bim  the  body  of  Cuthbert  as  his  chiefest  treasure, 
Danelaw.  ^^  wander  with  it  for  years  from  one  hiding-place  to 
858-878.  another.'  When  little  remained  to  glean  from  the 
wasted  land,  Halfdene  led  his  men  through  Cum- 
bria, where  Carlisle  was  entirely  destroyed,  and  on 
through  Strath-Clyde'  to  the  north,  where  the  Scot 
king  Constantine  was  battling  for  life  against  Thor- 
stein,  a  son  of  Olaf  the  Fair,  and  the  Norwegian. 
Jarl  Sigurd,  who  had  now  established  himself  in  the 
Orkneys.  Thorstein  and  Sigurd  overran  the  north- 
ern parts  of  the  realm,  while  Halfdene  advanced 
from  the  south,  till  the  Scots,  pressed  between  the 
two  pirate  hosts,  bought  peace  for  the  moment  by 
the  cession  of  Caithness.  But  while  one  portion  of 
the  host  was  thus  busy  beyond  the  H umber,  Guth- 
rum  was  leading  the  other  half  from  their  winter- 
quarters  at  Repton  to  Cambridge,  to  prepare  for  a 
final  onset  upon  Wessex.  The  greatness  of  the 
contest  had  now  drawn  to  Britain  the  whole  strength 
of  the  Northmen.  Ireland  won  a  long  rest  as  its 
^  Ostmen  flocked  to  join  their  brethren  over  the  sea; 
and  the  force  of  the  pirates  in  Gaul  was  so  weak- 
ened that  Charles  was  able  to  drive  them  from  their 
stronghold  at  Angers.  But  the  weakness  of  the 
pirates  to  east  and  west  only  pointed  to  a  general 

^  Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  875. 

^  "  Pictos  atque  Stretduccenses  depopulati  sunt,"  Sim.  Durh. 
"  He  made  raids  on  the  Picts  and  the  Strath-Clyde  Wealhs,"  Eng. 
Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  875.  "  Inducunt  Pihtis  bellum  Cum  brisque," 
^thelweard,  a.  875,  lib.  iv.  c.  3.  Skene  notes  this  as  "the  first  ap- 
pearance of  the  term  of  Cumbri  or  Cumbrians,  as  applied  to  the 
Britons  of  Strath-Clyde." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       jq^ 

concentration  of  their  force  upon  Britain,  and  it  was  chap.  m. 
with  a  host  swollen  by  reinforcements  from  every     The 
quarter  that  Guthrum,  in  876,  set  sail  for  the  south.'  ^f^h^^ 
Alfred  had  equipped  a  few  ships  which  served  to  ^^neiaw. 
beat   off   some   smaller    parties    that   attacked  the  858-878. 
coast,  but  the  little  squadron  was  helpless  to  meet  g^/^//^^//w'^ 
such  a  fleet  as  now  put  out  from  the  harbors  of  ""S  oT 
East  Anglia.     Coasting  by  Dover,  Guthrum  made,    ^^•^^''■^• 
like  the  earlier  marauders,  for  the  Dorset  coast,  and 
seized  a  neck  of  land  near  Wareham,  between  the 
Piddle  and  the  Frome,  for  his  camp.     Alfred  at 
once   marched  on  these  lines;  but  they  were  too 
strong  to   storm,  and  gold,  we   can   hardly  doubt, 
again  bought  a  treaty  in  which  the  pirates  swore  on 
every  relic   tliat  could  be  gathered,  as  well  as  on 
their  own  Odin's   ring,  a  sacred  bracelet  smeared 
with  the  blood  of  beasts  offered  at  the  god's  altar, 
to  quit   the   king's    land.     Alfred's   hold   was   no 
sooner  loosened,  however,  than  half  of  the  northern 
host  took  horse,  and  striking  across  country  seized 
Exeter  to  winter  in.''     The  seizure  of  the  city  may 
have  been  looked  on  by  the  Danes  as  no  breach  of 
faith,  for  Exeter  was  still  in  part  a  British  town;  but 
it  was  just  this  that  made  their  presence  there  so 
serious  a  danger,  and  through  the  winter  Alfred 
girded  himself  for  a  resolute  effort  to  drive  them 
out  before  their  success  could  cause  a  Welsh  rising. 
At  break  of  spring  in  Syy  the  West-Saxon  army 
closed  round  the  town,  while  a  hired  fleet'  cruised 

*  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  875  ;  Asser.  (ed.  Wise),  p.  27. 
=^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  877. 

"  "  Impositisque  piratis  in  illis  vias  maris  custodiendas  commisit." 
—Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  29. 


I04       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  off  the  coast  to  guard  against  rescue.     A  storm, 

which  drove  their  boats  on  the  rocks  of  Swanage, 

foiled  the  efforts  of  the  freebooters  who  remained 

Danelaw.  ^^  Warcham  to  rescue  their  brethren,  and  Exeter 

858-878.  was  at  last  starved  into  surrender,  while  Guthrum 

again  swore  to  leave  Wessex/ 

The  Danish  host  withdrew,  in  fact,  into  the  Severn 
valley  to  winter  at  Gloucester."  But  Alfred  had 
hardly  disbanded  the  army  which  had  taken  Exeter 
when  Hubba,  Ivar  s  brother,  with  a  fleet  which  had 
been  ravaging  in  the  Bristol  Channel,  struck  up  the 
Severn  to  Guthrum's  aid.  All  thought  of  the  oath 
they  had  sworn  at  once  passed  from  the  minds  of  the 
invaders ;  and  at  the  opening  of  878  Hubba,  with  a 
squadron  of  twenty-three  ships,  made  his  way  to  the 
coast  of  Devonshire,  while  the  main  body  of  the 
northern  host  again  crossed  the  Avon  and  pushed, 
by  a  swift  and  secret  march,  as  far  as  Chippenham.' 
The  surprise  of  Wessex  was  complete.  The  Danes 
were  in  the  heart  of  the  Gwent  before  tidings  of  their 
advance  could  call  either  king  or  people  to  arms,  and 
the  whole  district  east  of  the  Selwood  lay  at  their 
mercy.  To  gather  the  fyrd  of  Hampshire  or  Wilts 
or  Berkshire  in  face  of  the  pirates  was  impossible. 
Their  activity  made  them  masters  of  the  land ;  "many 
of  the  folk  they  drove  beyond  sea  "  over  the  Bristol 
Channel,  "and  the  greater  part  of  the  rest  they  forced 
to  obey  them."*  ^^  If  red  alone  remained  untouched 
by  the  terror  about  him.     Falling  back  through  the 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (V^inch.),  a.  877. 

'  ^thelweard,  a.  877,  lib.  iv.  c.  3. 

=•  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  878 ;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  30. 

*  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  878. 


THE   CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  iqc 

Selvvood,  on  the  westernmost  fragment  of  Wessex,  chap.  m. 
the  land  of  the  Somer-saetas  and  Defn-saetas,  he  seems     The 
even  there  to  have  found  his  efforts  to  gather  a  force  ^?^th?^ 
baffled  for  a  while  by  civil  strife ;'  and  the  band  which  ^^neiaw. 
still  followed  the  king  made  its  way  with  difficulty  858-878. 
to  the  marshes  that  occupied  the  heart  of  Somer- 
setshire."    From  Langport  to  the  site  of  the  later 
Bridgewater,  the  country  between  Polden  Hill  and 
the  Quantocks  was  little  more  than  a  vast  morass 
drained  by  the  deep  channel  of  the   Parret.     The 
local   names  of  the  district,  Sedgemoor,  on  whose 
half-reclaimed  flats  Monmouth  was  to  meet  his  doom, 
the  "  zoys "  or  rises,  crowned  now-a-days  with  marsh- 
villages,  such  as  Chedzoy  and  Middlezoy,  preserve 
a  record  of  the  flood-drowned  fen  in  which  ^Elfred 
sought  shelter.     In  the  midst  of  it,  at  a  point  where 
the  Tone,  flowing  northward  from  Taunton,  strikes 
the  Parret,  lies  Athelney,  a  low  lift  of  ground  some 
two  acres  in  extent,  girded  in  by  almost  impassable 
fen-lands.     It  was  at  Athelney  that  the  king  threw 
up  a  fort  and  waited  for  brighter  days.' 

A  jewel  of  blue  enamel,  enclosed  in  a  setting  of  ^^f^^j^{^ 
gold,  with  the  words  round  it  "Alfred  had  me 
wrought,"  was  found  here,  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, and  still  recalls  the  memories  of  this  gallant 
stand.  It  was  only  later  legend*  that  changed  it 
into  a  solitary  flight,  as  it  turned  the  three  months 
of  Alfred  s  stay  in  this  fastness  into  three  years  of 

*  "  Alfredo,"  says  ^thelweard,  a.  886,  "  quern   ingenio,  quern 
occursu,  non  superaverat  civilis  discordia  saeva." 

^  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  30. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  878 ;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  33. 

*  The  legend  of  St.  Neot,  written  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  century, 
of  which  fragments  break  our  actual  text  of  Asser. 


I06  THE   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  Ill,  hiding.     The  three  months  were,  in  fact,  months  of 

The     active  preparation  for  a   new  struggle.     Athelney 

of^th?  was  a  position  from  which  Alfred  could  watch  close- 

Daneiaw.  jy  ^^^q  movcmcnts  of  his  foes,  and  with  the  first  burst 

858-878.  of  spring  he  found  himself  ready  to  attack  them. 
Whatever  disunion  may  have  thwarted  him  before 
must  now  have  been  hushed,  for  the  fyrd  of  Devon- 
shire gathered  round  its  Ealdorman  Odda,  and  fall- 
ing suddenly  on  Hubba,  whose  squadron  was  harry- 
ing the  coast,  cut  his  men  to  pieces;'  while  the  men 
of  Somerset  rallied  round  their  Ealdorman,  ^thel- 
noth.  In  the  second  week  of  May,  878,  the  whole 
host  of  the  West  Saxons  mustered  under  their  young 
king's  standard  at  Ecgberht  s  stone  on  the  east  of 
Selwood.  Till  now  their  gathering  had  been  hidden 
from  the  Danes  by  this  great  screen  of  woodland, 
and  when  they  burst  through  it  into  the  older  Wes- 
sex  the  surprise  may  have  been  as  complete  as  when 
the  Danes  burst  in  from  Chippenham.  Whatever 
was  the  cause  of  his  success,  Alfred  no  sooner  found 
their  host  at  Ethandun  or  Edington,  near  Westbury, 
than  he  defeated  it  in  a  great  battle,  and  drove  the 
beaten  warriors  to  seek  shelter  in  their  camp.  But 
the  camp  at  Edington,  unlike  the  camps  which  had 
hitherto  repulsed  the  English,  had  no  outlet  by  river 
to  the  sea;  it  was  possible  to  cut  off  its  supplies, 
and  a  siege  of  fourteen  days  forced  the  Danes  to 
surrender.'' 

'^''rJ^r"^^      The  struQfSfle  had  been  a  short  one,  but  the  com- 

ofWed-  ?  Tv^yc         '         •  •       • 

more,    pletcncss  of  Alfred  s  victory  was  seen  ni  its  results. 
The  spirit  of  the  assailants  was  utterly  broken ;  and 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  878  ;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  33. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  878 ;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  pp.  33,  34. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       107 

while  the  bulk  of  the  pirate  host  withdrew,  under  a  chap.  m. 
leader  named  Hasting,  to  their  old  quarters  in  Gaul,  The 
Guthrum,  the  leader  of  the  rest,  bound  himself,  by  ofliif 
a  solemn  Peace  at  Wedmore,  a  village  on  the  north  ^^neiaw. 
of  the  Polden  Hills,'  to  become  a  Christian,  and  to  858-878- 
quit  Alfred's  realm.  The  treaty  itself  is  lost,"  but 
its  provisions  are,  no  doubt,  marked  in  the  events 
that  followed.  Not  only  did  the  Danes  withdraw 
from  all  England  south  of  the  Thames,  but  they 
left  in  y^lfred  s  hands  all  England  westward  of  the 
Watling  Street,  the  land  of  the  Hwiccas,  the  upper 
part  of  the  valley  of  the  Thames,  and  the  whole 
valley  of  the  Severn.  The  rich  pastures  along  the 
Cherwell,  the  downs  of  the  Cotswolds,  the  forest- 
tract  of  Arden,  the  flats  which  lay  about  the  still  de- 
serted ruins  of  the  later  Chester,  Oxford,  Worcester, 
and  Gloucester,  were  thus  rescued  from  heathen  rule. 
The  rescue  of  this  district,  however,  was  a  small 
matter  beside  the  fact  that  Wessex  itself  was  saved. 
In  the  dark  hour  when  ^^  If  red  lay  watching  from 
his  fastness  of  Athelney,  men  believed  that  the  whole 
island  had  passed  into  the  invader's  hands.  Once 
settled  in  the  south,  as  they  were  already  settled  in 
central  and  northern  England,  the  Danes  would  have 
made  short  work  of  what  resistance  linorered  on  else- 
where,  and  a  few  years  would  have  sufficed  to  make 
England  a  Scandinavian  country.  All  danger  of 
this  had  vanished  with  the  Peace  of  Wedmore.  The 
whole  outlook  of  the  pirates  was  changed.  Dread 
as  Alfred  might  the  sword  that  hung  over  him,  the 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  878 ;  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  35. 
'  The  existing  "Alfred  and  Guthrum's  Peace  "  is,  as  we  shall 
see,  of  later  date. 


I08       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  Danes  themselves  were  as  yet  in  no  mood  to  renew 
The  their  attack  upon  Wessex;  and  with  the  abandon- 
^f  VhT  nient  of  this  attack  not  only  was  all  hope  of  winning 
Danelaw.  Britain,  as  a  whole,  abandoned,  but  all  chance  of 
868-878.  making  it  a  secure  base  and  starting-point  for  wider 

Scandinavian  conquests  passed  away. 
itseffectcn     Thg  tj^g  Qf  invasion,  in  fact,  had  turned;  and 

Europe.  ' 

Europe  felt  that  it  had  turned.  The  struggle  with 
the  West  Saxons  had  been  marked  by  a  general 
pause  in  the  operations  of  the  pirates  elsewhere,  for 
their  number  was  so  small  in  relation  to  the  area 
over  which  they  fought  that  their  concentration  for 
any  great  struggle  in  one  quarter  meant  their  weak- 
ening and  retreat  in  another.  It  is  clear,  from  the 
general  aspect  of  the  war  in  Gaul,  that  the  conquest 
of  the  Danelaw,  and  the  absorption  of  a  large  force 
in  its  settlement,  had  already  weakened  the  strength 
of  the  northern  onset  upon  the  Franks.  The  cour- 
age of  the  peoples  across  the  Channel  rose  as  the 
pressure  of  the  Northmen  became  lighter;  and  we 
see  in  every  quarter  a  growing  resistance  to  the  in- 
vaders. But  this  resistance  took  a  new  vigor  when 
the  Danes  were  thrown  back  from  Wessex.  The 
spell  of  terror  was  broken.  Nowhere  had  the  at- 
tack been  so  resolute;  nowhere  had  the  forces  of 
the  pirates  been  so  great;  nowhere  had  their  cam- 
paigns been  conducted  on  so  steady  and  regular  a 
plan ;  nowhere  had  they  so  nearly  reached  the  verge 
of  success ;  and  nowhere  had  they  so  utterly  failed. 
The  ease  and  completeness  with  which  the  invaders 
had  w^on  the  bulk  of  Britain  only  brought  out  in 
stronger  relief  the  completeness  of  their  repulse  from 
the  south. 


V       Of  THB     ^ 

uitiversity] 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 


109 


Great,  however,  as  were  the  results  of  Alfred's  chap.  m. 
victory,  the  fact  remained  that  the  bulk  of  Britain     The 
lay  still  in  Danish  hands.     If  we  look  at  it  in  its  ^ff^^ 
relation  to  England  as  a  whole,  the  treaty  of  Wed-  ^^neiaw. 
more  was  the  acknowledgment  of  a  great  defeat.  858-878. 
Bravely  as  the  house  of  Ecgberht  had  fought,  the  TheDam- 
work   of    Ecgberht   was    undone.      The   dominion 
which  he  had  built  up  was  wrecked  like  the  do- 
minion of  the  Karolings ;  and  for  the  moment  it 
seemed  yet  more  completely  wrecked.     The  blows 
of  the  Northmen  had  fallen,  indeed,  as  heavily  on 
the  one  dominion  as  on  the  other ;  but  in  the  Karo- 
lingian  Empire  their  settlements  were  scattered  and 
few,  nor  had  they  any  importance  save  in  further- 
ing the  tendency  of  its  various  peoples  to  fall  apart 
into  their  old  isolation.     In  England,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Danes  had  won  the  bulk  of  the  land  for 
their  own.     Beaten  as  they  were  from  Wessex,  all 
northern,  all  eastern,  and  a  good  half  of  central 
Britain  remained  Scandinavian  ground.     The  set- 
tlements of  the  Northmen  in   Frankland,  those  in 
Friesland  or  on  the  Loire,  even  the  more  perma- 
nent Norman  settlements  at  a  later  time  on  the 
Seine,  were  too   small   to   sway  in  other  than   in- 
direct ways  the  fortunes  of  the  States  across  the 
Channel.     But  in  Britain  the  Danish  conquests  out- 
did in  extent  and  population  what  was  left  to  the 
English  king,  and  the  realm  of  ^^Ifred  saw  across 
Watling  Street  a  rival  whose  power  was  equal  to, 
or  even  greater  than,  its  own. 

Nor  was  this  conquest  a  mere  work  of  the  sword.  The  Danes 

j:  •    1  1        tn  North- 

With  the  change  of  masters  went  a  social  revolu-  umbria. 
tion,  for  over  the  whole  space,  from  the  Thames  to 


no  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  III.  the  Tees,  the  Danes  throughout  ^^Ifred's  day  were 
The  settling  down  on  the  conquered  soil.  Their  first 
^f*th^°  settlement  was  in  Deira,  in  the  area  occupied  by  the 
Danelaw,  pj-gsent  Yorkshire.  Though  their  victory  at  York 
858-878.  had  left  this  district  in  their  hands  as  early  as  the 
spring  of  868,  they  contented  themselves  for  the 
next  seven  years  with  the  exaction  of  tribute  from 
an  under- king,  Ecgberht,  whom  they  set  over  it, 
while  they  mastered  East  Anglia  and  crushed  Mid- 
Britain  and  made  their  first  onset  on  Wessex.  But 
in  875,  while  Guthrum  prepared  to  renew  the  attack 
on  i^lfred,  Halfdene,  with  a  portion  of  the  Danish 
army  at  Repton,  marched  northward  into  Northum- 
bria.  It  is  possible  that  he  was  drawn  there  by  a 
rising  of  the  country,  in  which  Ecgberht  had  been 
driven  from  the  throne  and  Ricsig  set  as  under-king 
in  his  place ;  but  if  so,  the  death  of  Ricsig  marks 
the  close  of  this  rising,  and  Halfdene  marched  un- 
opposed to  the  Tyne.  From  his  winter-camp  there 
he  "  subdued  the  land  and  ofttimes  spoiled  the  Picts 
and  the  Strathclyde  Wealhs." '  With  the  spring  of 
876,  however,  while  Guthrum  and  ^^  If  red  were  busy 
with  the  siege  of  Wareham,  he  fell  back  from  Ber- 
nicia  to  the  south,  and  "parted"  among  his  men 
"the  lands  of  Northumbria.  Thenceforth,"  adds 
the  chronicler,  "  they  went  on  ploughing  and  till- 
ing them."'  That  this  "deal"  or  division  of  the 
land  did  not,  in  spite  of  Halfdene's  conquests  on 
the  Tyne,  extend  to  Bernicia,  we  know  from  the 
fact  that  hardly  a  trace  of  Danish  settlement  can 
be  found  north  of  the  Tees.'     But  the  names  of  the 

>  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  875.  »  Ibid.  876. 

^  Taylor,  Words  and  Places,  p.  112. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       m 

towns  and  villages  of  Deira  show  us  in  how  sys-  chap.  m. 
tematic  a  way  southern   Northumbria  was   parted     The 
among  its  conquerors.     The  change  seems  to  have  ^f^^ 
been  much  the  same  as  that  which  followed  the  con-  ^^^aw. 
quest  of  the   Normans.     The   English  population  858-878. 
was  not  displaced,  but  the  lordship  of  the  soil  was 
transferred  to  the  conqueror.     The  settlers  formed 
a  new  aristocracy,  while  the  older  nobles  fell  to  a 
lower  position;  for  throughout  Deira  the  life  of  an. 
English  thegn  was  priced  at  but  half  the  value  of 
the  life  of  a  northern  "  hold." 

Some  of  the  new  settlements  can  be  easily  traced  Their  set- 
through  the  termmation  "  by,  a  Scandmavian  equiv- 
alent for  the  English  "  tun  "  or  "  ham,"  while  others 
may  be  less  certainly  distinguished  by  their  endings 
in  "  thwaite  "  or  "  dale ;"  and  in  each  of  the  Ridings 
of  Yorkshire  we  still  find  at  least  a  hundred  local 
names  of  this  Danish  type.  Where  they  cluster 
most  thickly  is  in  the  dales  that  break  the  wild 
tract  of  moorland  along  the  coast  from  Whitby  to 
the  Tees  valley,  to  which  the  new-comers  gave  the 
name  of  Cliff-land  or  Cleveland.  Around  Whitby 
itself,  the  "  White-by  "  of  the  northern  settlers,  the 
little  town  that  rose  on  either  side  its  river-mouth, 
beneath  the  height  on  which  the  ruins  of  Streone- 
shealh,  the  home  of  Hild  and  Cadmon,  stood  black- 
ened and  desolate,  the  country  is  thickly  dotted 
with  northern  names.  Memories  of  the  pirate  faith, 
of  Balder  and  of  Thor,  meet  us  in  Baldersby'  or 
Thornaby  as  in  the  lost  name  of  Presteby  or  Priest's 
town  ;  other  hamlets  give  us  the  names  of  the  war- 
riors themselves  as  they  turned  to  "  plough  and  till," 


Now  Baldby  Fields. 


112  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  III.  Beorn  and  Ailward,  Grim  and  Aswulf,  Orm  and  Tol, 
The     Thorald  and  Swein.'     A  few  names  of  far  greater 
of  the^  interest  hint  how  race  distinctions  still  perpetuated 
Danelaw,  thcmselvcs  in  the  group  of  littje  townships.     Three 
858-878.  Englebys  or  Inglebys  and  two  Normanbys  tell  how 
here  and  there  lords  of  the  old   Engle   race  still 
remained  on  a  level  with   the  conquerors,  or  how 
Northmen  or  Norwegians  who  had  joined  in  the 
fighting  had  their  share  in  the  spoil."     At  the  other 
extremity  of  this  district,  in  the  valley  of  the  Tees, 
a  curious  coincidence  almost  enables  us  to  detect 
the  spot  from  which  the  settlers    came.     On  the 
coast  of  South  Jutland  we  find  two  towns  in  close 
neighborhood,  Middleburg  and   Aarhus ;   while  in 
the  Tees  valley  Middlesborough  is  as  closely  neigh- 
bored by  its  "  Aarhus-um  "  or  Airsome.     It  is  hard- 
ly possible  not  to  believe  that  the  great  iron-mart 
of  Cleveland  must  look  for  its  mother-city  to  the 
little   Jutish  township,  as  the   Boston  of  the  New/ 
World  looks  for  its  mother-city   to  the  Boston  of  \ 
the  Old.^ 
Their        Cleveland  remained  for  centuries  to  come  a  thor- 
oughly Scandinavian  district;  of  its  twenty -seven 
lords  in  Domesday,  twenty-three  still  bore  distinc- 
tively Danish  names,  and  names  of  a  like  character 

^  Barnby,  Ellerby,  Grimsby,  Aislaby  (Asulvesbi),  Ormsby,  Tolesby, 
Swainby,  Thoraldby. 

^  Atkinson,  Glossary  of  Cleveland  Dialect,  Introd.  p.  xiv.  etc.  Even 
the  judicial  institutions  of  the  settlers  survive  in  "Thingwall," 
a  spot  by  Whitby,  which  has  vanished  from  the  modern  map,  but 
whose  name  Mr.  Atkinson  discovers  in  a  Memorial  of  Benefac- 
tions to  Whitby  Abbey  as  "  Thingvala." 

^  Atkinson,  Cleveland  Dialect,  Introd.  p.  xiii.  note.  The  South 
Jutland  "  Hjardum  "  probably  finds  a  like  successor  in  the  Cleve- 
land-" Yarm  "  or  "  Varum." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       jj^ 

seem  at  a  yet  later  time  to  have  prevailed  even  chap.  m. 
among  its   serfs.'     What  drew  settlers   so  thickly     The 
there  was,  no  doubt,  the  neighborhood  of  the  sea;  ^ftS^ 
as  ease  of  access  from  the  sea  drew  them  to  the  ^^a^- 
valley  of  the  Ouse.     The  swift  tide  up  the  Humber,  ^58-878. 
the  "  Higra  "  as  it  came  to  be  called  from  the  sea- 
god   CEgir,   carried   the    northern    boats    past    the 
marshes   of    Holderness   to   the   trading  -  port,  the 
"  Caupmanna-thorpe"  or  Cheapman's  Thorpe,  es- 
tablished by  the  new-comers  to  the  south  of  York." 
Like  all  men  of  the  north,  the  pirates  were  as  keen 
traders  as  they  were  hard  fighters ; '  their  very  kings 
were  traffickers.     Biorn,  Harald  Fair-hair's  son,  was 
"  Biorn  the  Merchant,"  and  St.  Olaf  was  a  partner  in 
the  trade  ventures  of  his  Jarls.     The  main  end  of 
their  raids  was  to  gather  slaves  for  the  slave-mart;* 

*  Atkinson,  Cleveland  Dialect,  Introd.  pp.  xx.,  xxi. 

'  Taylor,  Words  and  Places,  p.  254.  "  Caupmansthorpe  near  York. 
.  .  .  The  form  of  the  word  shows  us  that  here  the  Danish  traders  re- 
sided, just  as  those  of  Saxon  blood  dwelt  together  at  Chapmans- 
lade." 

'  Skiringsal  in  the  Wik  was  now  the  centre  of  northern  trade. 
"  The  Sleswig  ships  brought  to  it  German,  Wendish,  Prussian,  Rus- 
sian, Greek,  and  Eastern  wares,  as  well  as  merchants  and  adventur- 
ers from  these  lands.  In  Skiringsal,  indeed,  the  Halgolander  might 
be  seen  driving  bargains  with  the  Prussian,  the  Trondheimer  with 
the  Saxon  and  the  Wend,  the  Sondmoringer  with  the  Dane  and  the 
Swede  ;  beside  the  walrus-skins  and  furs  from  the  north,  one  might 
see  amber  from  Prussia,  costly  stuffs  from  Greece  and  the  East,  By- 
zantine and  Arabian  coins  and  northern  rings,  while  the  harbor  lay 
full  of  big  and  little  ships  of  varied  build,  among  which  the  kingly 
long-ship  was  distinguished  not  only  by  its  size,  but  by  its  magnifi- 
cence."— Munch,  Det  Norske  Folks  Historic  (Germ,  trans.),  pt.  iv. 
p.  141. 

^  We  see  the  actual  working  of  this  slave-trade  in  Olaf  Trygvas- 
son's  story.  He  was  captured  in  his  childhood,  "with  his  mother, 
Astrid,  and  his  foster-father,  Thorolf,  by  an  Esthonian  wiking,  as 
they  were  crossing  the  sea  from  Sweden  on  their  way  to  Novgorod, 

8 


114       '^^^  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  but  they  brought  with  them  the  furs,  oils,  skins,  and 
The     eider-down  of  their  northern  lands  to  barter  for  the 

^f  tSf  wares  of  the  south.     Their  settlements  along  the 

Danelaw,  north  coast  were  as  much  markets  as  pirate-holds; 

858-878.  and  York,  which  from  this  time  became  more  and 
more  a  Danish  city,  was  thronged  at  the  close  of  a 
century  with  Danish  merchants,  and  had  become 
the  centre  of  a  thriving  trade  with  the  north.  The 
new-comers  have  left  their  mark  in  some  of  its  local 
names :  the  street  leading  to  its  eastern  outlet  is 
still  Guthrum's  Gate ;  and  the  church  of  St.  Olave 
reminds  us  how,  at  the  eve  of  the  Norman  Conquest, 
the  Danish  population  had  spread  to  the  suburbs  of 
the  town. 

Their  or-      Qvcr  the  Central  vale,  from  York  to  Catterick,  we 

gamzaUon.  ^      -      ,  mi  hi 

find  the  "  byes  planted,  as  was  naturally  the  case, 
pretty  thickly,  with  a  "  Balderby  "  among  them  that 
suggests  how  the  northern  myths  were  settling  on 
English  soil  with  the  northern  marauders ;  and  if 
the  eastern  wolds  present  few  traces  of  their  homes, 
they  are  frequent  along  the  western  moors.  Of  the 
life  or  institutions,  however,  of  these  settlers  we 
know  little;  for,  from  the  moment  of  their  settle- 
ment to  the  conquest  of  the  Norman,  northern  Eng- 
land is  for  two  hundred  years  all  but  hidden  from 


and  were  divided  among  the  crew  and  sold.  An  Esthonian  called 
Klerkon  got  Olaf  and  Thorolf  for  his  share  of  the  booty,  but  Astrid 
was  separated  from  her  son  Olaf,  then  only  three  years  old.  Kler- 
kon thought  Thorolf  too  old  for  a  slave,  and  that  no  work  could  be 
got  out  of  him  to  repay  his  food,  and  therefore  killed  him,  but  sold 
the  boy  to  a  man  called  Klaerk  for  a  goat.  A  peasant  called  Reas 
bought  him  from  Klaerk  for  a  good  cloak,  and  he  remained  in 
slavery  till  he  was  recognized  by  his  uncle." — Laing,  Sea  Kings  of 
Norway,  Introd.  i.  96. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND,       ur 

our  view.  The  division  of  Deira  into  three  Tri-  chap,  ni. 
things,  or  Ridings,  which  probably  dates  from  this  The 
time,  may  answer  in  some  degree  to  older  divisions ;  ^f  ^iJ? 
the  East  Riding,  or  district  of  the  wolds,  to  an  ear-  ^a^^- 
lier  Deira  of  the  English  conquerors,  which  seems  858-878. 
in  later  times  to  have  retained  some  sort  of  exist- 
ence as  an  under-kingdom,  while  the  bounds  of  the 
West  Riding  roughly  correspond  with  those  of  El- 
met,  as  Eadwine  added  it  to  his  Northumbrian 
realm.  But  the  arrangement  by  which  the  Tri- 
things  were  linked  together,  the  adjustment  of  their 
boundaries  so  that  all  three  met  in  York  itself,  had 
clearly  a  distinct  political  end,  and  marks  a  time — 
such  as  that  of  the  Danish  kings — in  which  York 
was  the  seat  and  capital  of  the  central  power.  The 
division  of  the  Trithings  into  Wapentakes,  which 
answer  here  to  the  Hundreds  of  the  south,  is  prob- 
ably of  the  same  date.  In  England,  as  in  Iceland, 
the  word  may  have  been  originally  used  for  the 
closing  of  the  district-court,  when  the  suitors  again 
took  up  the  weapons  they  had  laid  aside  at  its  open- 
ing, and  have  finally  extended  to  the  district  itself.' 
The  change  of  the  English  name  "moot"  for  the 
gathering  of  the  freemen  in  township,  or  wapentake 
into  the  Scandinavian  "  thing,"  or  "  ting" — a  change 
recorded,  as  we  have  seen,  by  local  designations — is 
no  less  significant  of  the  social  revolution  which 
passed  over  the  north  with  the  coming  of  the  Dane. 

The  year  after  Half  dene's  parting  of  Deira  among  -^f/^.^f' 
his  followers  saw  another  portion  of  the  Danish  host  Bnfam. 
settle  in   Mid-Britain.     While  Alfred  was  still  in 
the  midst  of  his  struggle  with  the  Danes  about  Ex- 

^  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  109. 


Il6  THE  CONQUEST   OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. Ill,  eter,  "in  the  harvest-tide  of  ^jj,  the  Here  went  into 
ThI      Mercia,  and  some  of  it  they  parted,  and  some  they 
^filJf  handed  over  to  Ceolwulf,"  who,  till  now,  had  served 
Danelaw,  ^g   ^j^^jj.  under-king  for  the  whole.'     The  portion 
858-878.  they  took   for    themselves   is,  for   the    most   part, 
marked  by  the  presence  in  it  of  their  Danish  names. 
"  Byes"  extend  to  the  very  borders  of  Lincolnshire, 
Nottinghamshire,   Derbyshire,   Leicestershire,  Rut- 
land, and  Northamptonshire,  while  from  the  rest  of 
Mercia  they  are  almost  wholly  absent."     It  was  this 
western  half  of  the  older  kingdom,  our  Cheshire, 
Shropshire,  Staffordshire,  Worcestershire,  Glouces- 
tershire, Herefordshire,  and  Oxfordshire,  which  re- 
mained under  Ceolwulf's   rule,"  and  to  which  from 
this  time  the  name  of  Mercia  is  confined,  while  the 
eastern  or  Danish  half  was  known,  at  any  rate  in 
later  days,  as  the  district  of  the  Five  Boroughs,* 
Derby,  whose  name  superseded  the  older  English 
"  Northweorthig,"  Leicester,  Lincoln,  Stamford,  and 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  Z77.  For  Ceolwulf,  see  ib.  a.  874. 
"  That  same  year  they  gave  the  Mercian  kingdom  to  the  keeping 
of  Ceolwulf,  an  unwise  thegn  of  the  king"  (Burhred,  who  had  fled 
to  die  at  Rome),  "  and  he  swore  oaths  to  them,  and  delivered  host- 
ages to  them  that  it  should  be  ready  for  them  on  whatever  day  they 
would  have  it,  and  that  he  would  be  ready  both  in  his  own  person 
and  with  all  who  would  follow  him  for  the  behoof  of  the  army." 

^  The  country  about  Buckingham,  however,  which  formed  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  "  Five  Boroughs,"  has  no  "  byes."  Those 
about  Wirral  in  Cheshire  are  an  exception  which  I  shall  have  to 
notice  later  on.  We  find,  too,  "  byes  "  extending  some  few  miles 
into  our  Warwickshire.  I  shall  afterwards  explain  why  I  set  aside 
the  notion  of  Watling  Street  being  the  boundary  of  Danish  Mercia. 

^  In  896  we  find  three  ealdormen  among  the  Witan  of  this  part 
of  Mercia. — Cod.  Dip.  No.  1073.  The  number  in  the  undivided 
Mercian  realm  seems  to  have  been  five. 

*  The  name  first  occurs  in  the  Song  of  Eadmund,  Eng.  Chron. 
(Winch.),  a.  941. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       u^ 

Nottingham.     Politically  this  State  differed  widely  chap.  m. 
from   Danish   Northumbria.      While    Northumbria     The 
was  an  organized  kingdom  under  the  stock  of  Iji-  ^f^^^ 
guar  or  Ivar,  with  a  definite  centre  at  York  and  a  Danelaw, 
general  administrative  division  into  Trithings  and  858-878. 
Wapentakes,  the   independence    of  the   Five   Bor- 
oughs was  unfettered  by  any  semblance  of  kingly 
rule.     Their  name  suggests  some  sort  of  confeder-  / 

acy ;  and  it  is  possible  that  a  common  "  Thing"  may 
have  existed  for  the  whole  district ;  but  each  of  the 
Boroughs  seems  to  have  had  its  own  Jarl,  and  Here 
or  army,  while  (if  we  may  judge  from  the  instance  of 
Lincoln  and  Stamford)  the  internal  rule  of  each  was 
in  the  hands  of  twelve  hereditary  "  law-men."  There 
was  a  like  difference  in  local  organization.  In  the 
country  about  Lincoln  we  find  both  Trithings  and 
Wapentakes,  as  on  the  other  side  the  Humber,  but 
there  is  no  trace  of  the  Trithing  in  the  territory  of 
the  four  other  Boroughs.  The  distribution  of  set- 
tlers over  this  midland  Danelaw  was  as  varied  as 
their  forms  of  rule.  They  lay  thickest  in  the  Lind- 
sey  uplands,  where  the  lands  seem  to  have  been 
treated  throughout  as  conquered  country,  and  to 
have  been  parted  among  the  conquerors  by  the  rude 
rope  -  measurement  of  the  time.  Lincolnshire,  in- 
deed, contains  as  many  names  of  northern  settle- 
ments as  the  whole  of  Yorkshire ;'  and  its  little  porj: 
of  Grimsby,  whose  muddy  shores  were  thronged 
with  traders  from  Norway  and  the  Orkneys,  came 
at  last  to  rival  York  in  commercial  activity."     In 

'■  Isaac  Taylor,  Words  and  Places,  p.  122,  numbers  som6  three 
hundred. 
'  "  When  Kali  was  fifteen  winters  old  he  went  with  some  mer- 


Il8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  Ill,  the  districts  .of  the  other  four  towns  the  names  of 

The     such  settlements  are  far  less  numerous ;  it  is  only 

oMh?  in,  Leicestershire,  indeed,  that  we  find  anything  like 

Danelaw,  ^i^^  settlements  of  the  north/ 

858-878.       In  East  Anglia  the  northern  colonization  was  of 

The  Danes '2i  yet  wcakcr  sort  than  in  Mid-Britain.  Although 
'IngUa.  this  district  had  been  in  Danish  hands  since  the 
fall  of  Eadmund  in  870,  its  real  settlement  dated 
ten  years  later,  when  Guthrum  led  back  his  army 
from  Wessex  after  the  Frith  or  Peace  of  Wedmore. 
In  880  "the  army  went  from  Cirencester  to  East 
Anglia,  and  settled  the  land,  and  parted  it  among 
them."'  Guthrum's  realm,  however,  included  far 
more  than  East  Anglia  itself.  The  after-war  of 
886  and  the  frith  that  followed  it  show  that  Essex 
was  detached  from  the  Eastern  or  Kentish  king- 
dom, to  which  it  had  belonged  since  Ecgberht's  day, 
and  brought  back  to  its  old  dependence  on  East 
Anglia.  With  Essex  passed  its  chief  city,  London, 
now  wasted  by  pillage  and  fires,  but  soon  to  regain 
its  trading  activity  in   Danish    hands,  and    whose 

chants  to  England,  taking  with  him  a  good  cargo  of  merchandise. 
They  went  to  a  trading-place  called  Grimsby.  There  was  a  great 
number  of  people  from  Norway,  as  well  as  from  the  Orkneys,  Scot- 
land, and  the  Sudreyar.  .  .  .  Then  he,  Kali,  made  a  stanza — 

"  Unpleasantly  we  have  been  wading 
In  the  mud  a  weary  five  weeks ; 
Dirt,  indeed,  we  had  in  plenty 
While  we  lay  in  Grimsby  harbor," 

Anderson,  Orkney inga  Saga,  pp.  75-76. 

This,  however,  was  in  the  twelfth  century. 

^  In  Leicestershire  Taylor  finds  one  hundred  such  names,  in 
Northampton  and  Notts  fifty  each,  in  Derby  about  a  dozen. — Words 
and  Places,  p.  122. 

«  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  880. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ng 

subject  territory  carried  Guthrum's  rule  along  the  chap,  m. 
valley  of  the  Thames  as  far  as  the  Chilterns  and     The 
the  district  attached  to  Oxford,  which  now  became    of  th? 
a  border-town  of  English  Mercia.     To  the  north,  Danelaw, 
too,  Guthrum  seems  to  have  wielded  the  old  East-  858-878. 
Anglian  supremacy  over   the    southern  districts  of 
the  Fen.     In  extent,  therefore,  his  kingdom  was  fully 
equal  to  either  of  the  two  rival  States  of  the  Dane- 
law.    But  its  character  was  far  less  northern.     The 
bulk  of  the  warrior-settlers  may  have  already  found 
homes  on  the  Ouse  or  the  Trent ;  it  is  certain,  at 
any  rate,  that  in  East  Anglia  their  settlements  were 
few.     The  "byes"  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  lie  clus- 
tered for  the  most  part  round  the  mouth  of   the 
Yare;  and  this  was  probably  the  one  part  of  this 
district  where  distinct  pirate  communities  existed ; 
throughout  the  rest  of  it  the  Danes  must  simply 
have  quartered  themselves   on  their   English  sub- 
jects.    In  the  dependent  districts  to  north  and  south 
they  seem  rather  to  have  clustered  in  town-centres, 
such    as  Colchester   and   Bedford,  or    Huntingdon 
and    Cambridge,  where   Jarl    and    Here    remained 
encamped,  receiving   food  and  rent  from  the  sub- 
ject Englishmen  who  tilled  their  allotted  lands.' 

The  small  number  of  its  settlers,  however,  was  ^'^^^ J^Jf 
not  the  only  circumstance  which  distinguished  East  Kingdom, 
Anglia  from  the  rest  of  the  Danelaw.  Its  local  in- 
stitutions remained  English,  while  it  was  far  more 
closely  connected  wuth  the  English  kingdom  than 
its  fellow  States.  We  find  no  trace  of  Trithing  or 
Wapentake  within  its  bounds.     It  was  from  the  first, 

^  Robertson,  Scotland   under   Early  Kings,  vol.  ii.,  Appendix, 
"  The  Danelagh.'' 


I20       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  too,  a  Christian  kingdom.     A  promise  to  receive 

The     baptism  was  part  of  the  terms  of  surrender  on  Guth- 

^f  thf  rum's  side  after  his  defeat  at  Edington ;  and  "  about 

Danelaw,  three  weeks  after  King  Guthrum  came  to  ^^  If  red 

858-878.  ...  at  Aire,  near  Athelney,  and  the  king  was  his 

godfather  in  baptism,  and  his  chrism-loosing'  was  at 

Wedmore ;  and  he  was  twelve  days  with  the  king, 

and  he  greatly  honored  him  and  his  companions 

with  gifts."'     The  policy  of  binding  to  him,  as  far 

as  he  could,  this  portion  of  the  Danelaw  was  carried 

on  by  Alfred  in  the  later  frith  made  between  the 

two  kings  with  "the  witan  of  all  the  English-folk" 

"  and  all  the  people  that  are  in  East  Anglia,"  which, 

after  marking  the  boundaries  of  the  two  realms,  fixed 

the  "  wer"  or  life-value  of  both  Englishman  and  Dane 

at  the  same  amount,"  settled  the  same  procedure  for 

claims  to  property,  and  pledged  either  party  to  refuse 

to  receive  deserters  from  the  army  or  dominions  of 

the  other.* 

The  Dane-      From  the  Tccs  to  the  brink  of  the  Thames  valley, 

law  and  .  -     ,  i       ^ 

the  North,  from  the  water-parting  of  the  country  to  the  German 
Sea,  every  inch  of  territory  lay  in  Danish  hands. 
The  Danelaw  was,  in  fact,  by  far  the  most  important 
conquest  which  the  northern  warriors  had  made.  In 
extent,  as  in  wealth  and  resources,  it  equalled,  indeed, 
or  more  than  equalled,  the  Scandinavian  realms  them- 

*  Probably  the  loosing  of  the  fillet  bound  round  the  head  at  con- 
firmation after  the  anointing  of  the  brow  with  the  chrism. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  878. 

*  "  If  a  man  be  slain  we  estimate  all  equally  dear,  English  and 
Danish." — Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  155, 156. 

*  "  All  ordained  when  the  oaths  were  sworn  that  neither  bond 
nor  free  might  go  to  the  host  without  leave,  no  more  than  any  of 
them  to  us." — Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  156,  157. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  N^/h^t      **  J 

selves.  To  bring  this  great  possession  under 
overlordship  became,  we  cannot  doubt,  the  dream  The 
of  the  kings  who  were  beginning  to  build  up  the  ^ft^ 
petty  realms  about  them  into  the  monarchies  of  the  ^^^a,^- 
North ;  and  it  is  possible  that  we  find  the  earliest  858-878. 
trace  of  that  ambition  which  afterwards  brought 
Swein  and  Harald  Hardrada  to  the  shores  of  Britain 
in  a  tale  which,  oddly  as  it  has  been  disguised,  may, 
in  its  earlier  form,  be  taken  as  a  fair  record  of  the 
relations  between  the  northern  homeland  and  its 
outlier  in  the  south.  "  At  this  time,"  says  the  Saga 
of  Harald  Fair-hair,'  "  a  king  called  ^thelstan  had 
taken  the  kingdom  of  England."  Chronological 
difficulties  hinder  us  from  seeing  in  this  i^thelstan 
the  later  king  of  Wessex,  and  guide  us  to  Guthrum, 
of  East  Anglia,  who  had  taken  the  name  of  i^thelstan 
at  his  baptism,''  or  to  his  son  and  successor  who  may 
have  borne  the  same  double  name.  Whichever  of 
these  kings  it  was,  "  he  sent  men  to  Norway  to  King 
Harald  with  this  errand,  that  the  messengers  should 
present  him  with  a  sword,  with  hilt  and  handle  gilt, 
and  also  its  whole  sheath  adorned  with  gold  and 
silver  and  set  with  precious  jewels.  The  ambassa- 
dors presented  the  sword-hilt  to  the  king,  saying, 
'  Here  is  a  sword  which  King  ^thelstan  sends 
thee,  with  the  request  that  thou  wilt  accept  it'  The 
king  took  the  sword  by  the  handle ;  whereupon  the 
ambassadors  said,  '  Now  thou  hast  taken  the  sword 
according  to  our  king's  desire,  and  therefore  art  thou 
his  subject,  as  thou  hast  taken  his  sword.'  King 
Harald  saw  now  that  this  was  a  jest,  for  he  would 
be  subject  to  no  man.     But  he  remembered  it  was 

^  Laing,  Sea  Kings  of  Norway,  i.  308. 
"  ^thelweard,  a.  889,  lib.  iv.  c.  3. 


122       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  III.  his  rule,  whenever  anything  raised  his  anger,  to  col- 

The     lect  himself  and  let  his  passion  run  off,  and  then 

^f  th^^  take  the  matter  into  consideration  coolly.     Now  he 

Danelaw,  ^jj  gQ^  ^j^j  consultcd  his  fricnds,  who  all  gave  him 

858-878.  the  advice  to  let  the  ambassadors,  in  the  first  place, 

go  home  in  safety. 

"  The  following  summer  King  Harald  sent  a  ship 
westward  to  England,  and  gave  the  command  of  it 
to  Hauk  Haabrok.  He  was  a  great  warrior,  and 
very  dear  to  the  king.  Into  his  hands  he  gave  his 
son  Hakon.  Hauk  proceeded  westward  to  Eng- 
land, and  found  the  king  in  London,  where  there 
was  just  at  the  time  a  great  feast  and  entertainment. 
When  they  came  to  the  hall  Hauk  told  his  men  how 
they  should  conduct  themselves;  namely,  how  he 
who  went  first  in  should  go  last  out,  and  all  should 
stand  in  a  row  at  the  table,  at  equal  distance  from 
each  other ;  and  each  should  have  his  sword  at  his 
left  side,  but  should  fasten  his  cloak  so  that  his 
sword  should  not  be  seen.  Then  they  went  into  the 
hall,  thirty  in  number.  Hauk  went  up  to  the  king 
and  saluted  him,  and  the  king  bade  him  welcome. 
Then  Hauk  took  the  child  Hakon  and  set  it  on  the 
king's  knee.  The  king  looks  at  the  boy,  and  asks 
Hauk  what  the  meaning  of  this  is.  Hauk  replies, 
'  Harald  the  king  bids  thee  foster  his  servant-girl's 
child.'  The  king  was  in  great  anger,  and  seized  a 
sword,  which  lay  beside  him,  and  drew  it,  as  if  he 
were  going  to  kill  the  child.  Hauk  says, '  Thou  hast 
borne  him  on  thy  knee,  and  thou  canst  murder  him 
if  thou  wilt;  but  thou  wilt  not  make  an  end  of  all 
King  Harald's  sons  by  so  doing.'  On  that  Hauk 
went  out  with  all  his  men,  and  took  the  way  direct 
to  his  ship  and  put  to  sea — ^for  they  were  ready — 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  123 

and  came  back  to   King   Harald.     The  king  was  chap,  m, 
highly  pleased  with  this ;  for  it  is  the  common  ob-     The 
servation  of  all  people  that  the  man  who  fosters  ^f^h? 
another's   children    is    of    less    consideration    than  ^»^a^- 
the  other.     From  these  transactions  between  the  858-878. 
two  kings  it  appears  that  each  wanted  to  be  held 
greater  than  the  other ;  but,  in  truth,  there  was  no 
injury  to  the   dignity  of  either,  for  each  was  the 
upper  king  in  his  own  kingdom  till  his  dying  day," 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  relation  of  the  ^'^'^ '^'^'^^- 
Danelaw  to  the  Scandmavian  homeland,  there  can  Eugiand, 
be  no  doubt  of  the  importance  of  this  great  settle- 
ment, viewed  in  its  relation  to  the  country  beyond 
its  borders.  It  was  a  first  step  towards  the  conquest 
of  England.  The  hard  fighting  of  Wessex,the  genius 
of  i^lfred,  had  for  the  moment  checked  the  con- 
queror's advance.  But  what  he  had  won  was  never 
lost.  Small  as  were  the  differences  of  manners  and 
institutions  between  Englishman  and  Dane,  the 
Danelaw  preserved  an  individuality  and  character 
which  even  the  re-conquest  by  the  West -Saxon 
kings  failed  to.  take  from  it.  If  it  submitted  for  a 
while  to  English  rule  it  remained  a  Danish  and 
not  an  English  land ;  and  when  the  final  attack  of 
the  Danish  kings  fell  on  England,  the  rising  of  the 
Danelaw,  in  Swein's  aid,  showed  that  half  his  work 
was  done  already  to  his  hand.  From  the  landing  of 
Ivar  to  the  landing  of  Cnut  the  attack  of  the  Dane 
on  Britain  is  really  a  continuous  one;  but  the  heri- 
tage of  their  victory  was  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  a 
later  conqueror,  and  the  bowing  of  all  England  to  a 
Norman  king  is  only  the  close  of  a  work  which  be- 
gan in  the  parting  of  Northern  and  Central  England 
among  the  Danish  holds. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ALFRED. 
878-901. 

The  weak-      MASTERS  as  thcv  wcre  of  the  bulk  of  Britain,  the 

iiess  of  the  -'  1         i     1  • 

Daiieiaxv.  prcssure  of  the  Danes  on  the  England  that  resisted 
them  must  in  the  end  have  proved  irresistible  had 
their  military  force  remained  undiminished  and  had 
their  political  faculty  been  as  great  as  their  genius 
for  war.  As  we  have  seen,  however,  they  showed 
as  few  traces  of  political  faculty  or  of  any  power  of 
national  organization  as  in  their  own  Scandinavia, 
while  the  number  of  their  fighting  men  was  lessen- 
ing every  day.  Already  the  conquest  of  northern 
Britain  had  done  much  to  save  the  south ;  for  the 
attack  of  Guthrum  on  Wessex  might  have  proved 
as  successful  as  the  attack  of  Ivar  on  Northumbria, 
had  Ivar  s  men  remained  in  the  ranks  of  the  Danish 
host  instead  of  settling  down  as  farmers  beside  the 
Ouse  or  the  Trent.  Peace,  too,  and  the  Christian- 
ity which  Guthrum  embraced,  yet  further  thinned 
the  Danish  ranks ;  and  at  the  close  of  the  last  cam- 
paign against  Wessex  a  large  part  of  the  invaders 
followed  Hasting  to  seek  better  fortune  in  Gaul. 
But  even  those  who  remained  on  English  ground 
clung  loosely  to  their  new  settlements.  It  was  not 
Britain  but  Iceland  that  drew  to  it  at  this  time  the 
hearts  of  the  northern    rovers ;    and   the    English 


THE  CONQUEST   OF  ENGLAND.  125 

Danelaw  often   served  as   a  mere   stepping-stone  chap.iv. 
between  Norway  and  its  offshoot  in  the  northern   iEifred. 
seas.     Of   the   names    of    the   original    settlers    of  878^oi. 
Iceland  which  are   recorded  in  the  Landnama,  its 
Domesday  book,   more   than    a  half   are  those  of 
men  who  had  found   an  earlier   settlement  in  the 
British  Isles/ ^ 

At  the  moment  we  have  reached,  however,  even  ^^f^^^f. 
Alfred's  eye  could  hardly  have  discerned  the  we^k- restoration. 
ness  of  the  Danelaw.  It  was  with  little  of  a  con- 
queror's exultation  that  the  young  king  turned  from 
his  victories  in  the  west.  He  looked  on  the  peace 
he  had  won  as  a  mere  break  in  the  struggle,  and  as 
a  break  that  might  at  any  moment  come  suddenly 
to  an  end.  Even  in  the  years  of  tranquillity  which 
followed  it  there  never  was  an  hourjvhen  he  felt 
safe  against  an  inroad  of  the  Danes  over  Watling 
Street,  or  a  landing  of  pirates  in  the  Severn.  "  Oh, 
what  a  happy  man  was  he !"  he  cries  once,  "  that 
man  that  had  a  naked  sword  hanging  over  his  head 
from  a  single  thread — so  as  to  me  it  always  did!'" 
And  yet  peace  was  absolutely  needful  for  the  work 
that  lay  before  him.  If  the  deliverance  of  Wessex 
had  shown  the  exhaustion  of  the  Danes,  Wessex 
itself  was  as  utterly  spent  by  fifty  years  of  contin- 
uous effort,  and  above  all  by  the  last  five  years  of 

^  Dasent,  translation  of  Njal's  Saga,  Introd.  p.  xii.  The  most  trust- 
worthy accounts,  such  as  that  of  the  Landnamabok,  of  the  first 
settlements  in  Iceland  show  how  mixed  the  population  of  the 
British  Islands  then  was.  Besides  the  overwhelming  numbers  of 
the  Northmen,  there  are  found  men  and  women  of  Danish,  Swed- 
ish, and  Flemish  descent  who  joined  in  the  emigration  from  Brit- 
ain to  Iceland. — (A.  S.  G.) 

»  Alfred's  Boethius,  in  Sharon  Turner's  Hist.  Anglo-Sax.  ii.  45. 


126  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  deadly  struggle.  Law,  order,  the  machinery  of 
.Eifred.  justice  and  government,  had  been  weakened  by 
878^01.  the  pirate  storm.  Schools  and  monasteries  had  for 
the  most  part  perished.  Many  of  the  towns  and 
villages  lay  wrecked  or  in  ruin.  There  were  whole 
tracts  of  country  that  lay  wasted  and  without  in- 
habitants after  the  Danish  raids.  Material  and 
moral  civilization  indeed  had  alike  tor^he  revived. 
All,  however,  might  be  set  right,  as  the  king  touch- 
ingly  said,  "  if  we  have  stillness ;"  ^  and  in  these  first 
years  of  peace  the  work  of  restoration  went  rapidly 
on.  JElired  had  to  wrestle  indeed  with  the  penu- 
ry of  the  royal  Hoard;  for  so  utterly  had  it  been 
drained  by  the  payments  to  the  pirates  and  the 
cost  of  the  recent  struggle  that  the  sons  of  y^thel- 
wulf  had  been  driven  to  the  miserable  expedient  of 
debasing  the  currency,  and  it  was  not  till  ^^Ifred  s 
later  days  that  the  coinage  could  be  raised  to  a 
sounder  standard.'  He  had  to  wrestle,  too,  yet 
'^  harder  with  the  sluggishness  of  his  subjects.  There 
were  scarcely  any  who  would  undertake  the  slight- 
est voluntary  labor  for  the  common  benefit  of  the 
realm  ;  persuasion  had,  after  long  endurance,  to  pass 
'  into  command ;  and  even  commands  were  slowly 
and  imperfectly  carried  out.'  Great,  however,  as 
were  the  obstacles,  the  work  was  done.  Forts  were 
built  in  places  specially  exposed  to  attack,*  and 
wasted  lands  were  colonized  afresh.  Bishop  Dene- 
wulf,  of  Winchester,  tells  us  how  his  land  at  Bed- 
hampton,  "when   my  lord   first  let  it  to  me,  was 

^  Pref.  to  Pastoral  Book  (ed.  Sweet). 

^  Robertson,  Hist.  Essays,  p.  64. 

^  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  59.  *  Ibid.  p.  58. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 


127 


unprovided  with  cattle,  and  laid  waste  by  heathen  chap.iv. 
folk  ;   and  I  myself   then  provided  the  cattle,  and   iEifred. 
there  people  were   afterwards.'"     So,  too,  new  ab-  878^oi. 
beys  were  founded  at  Winchester  and  Shaftesbury ; 
while  the  king's  gratitude  for  his  deliverance  raised 
a  religious  house  among  the  marshes  of  Athelney. 

Busy,  however,  as  Alfred  was  with  the  restora- ^^'^ »!''^'^'^- 

/         ,  1  •  •  rr  ry  reforms. 

tion  of  order  and  good  government,  his  mam  eiiorts 
were  directed  to  the  military  organization  of  his 
people."  He  had  learned,  during  the  years  of  hard 
fighting  with  which  his  life  began,  how  unsuited 
the  military  system  of  the  country  had  become  to 
the  needs  of  war  as  the  Danes  practised  it.  The 
one  national  army  was  the  fyrd,  a  force  which  had 
already  received  in  the  Karolingian  legislation  the 
name  of  "  landwehr,"  by  which  the  German  knows 
it  still.  The  fyrd  was,  in  fact,  composed  of  the 
whole  mass  of  free  land-owners  who  formed  the 
folk :  and  to  the  last  it  could  only  be  summoned  by 
the  voice  of  the  folk-moot.  In  theory,  therefore, 
such  a  host  represented  the  whole  available  force 
of  the  country.  But  in  actual  warfare  its  attend- 
ance at  the  king's  war-call  was  limited  by  practical 
difficulties.  Arms  were  costly,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  fyrd  came  equipped  with  bludgeons  and 
hedge  -  stakes,  which  could  do  little  to  meet  the 
spear  and  battle-axe  of  the  invader.  The  very 
growth  of  the  kingdom,  too,  had  broken  down  the 
old  military  system.     A  levy  of  every  freeman  was 

*  Thorpe,  Diplomatarium,  p.  162. 

=  Stubbs  (Const.  Hist.  i.  220  et  seq.)  has  examined  this  subject ; 
but  we  have  little  real  information  about  it  from  contemporary- 
documents. 


128       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  possible  when  one  folk  warred  with  another  folk, 
jEifred.  when  a  single  march  took  the  warrior  to  the  border, 
878-901.  and  a  single  fight  settled  the  matter  between  the 
tiny  peoples.  But  now  that  folk  after  folk  had  been 
absorbed  in  great  kingdoms,  now  that  the  short 
march  had  lengthened  into  distant  expeditions,  the 
short  fight  into  long  campaigns,  it  was  hard  to  rec- 
oncile the  needs  of  labor  and  of  daily  bread  with 
the  needs  of  war.  Ready  as  he  might  be  to  follow 
the  king  to  a  fight  which  ended  the  matter,  the 
farmer  who  tilled  his  own  farm  could  serve  only  as 
long  as  his  home-needs  would  suffer  him.  Custom 
had  fixed  his  service  at  a  period  of  two  months. 
But  as  the  industrial  condition  of  the  country  ad- 
vanced, such  a  service  became  more  and  more  diffi- 
cult to  enforce ;  even  in  Ine's  day  it  was  needful  to 
fix  heavy  fines  by  law  for  men  who  "  neglected  the 
fyrd,'"  and  it  broke  down  before  the  new  conditions 
of  warfare  brought  about  by  the  strife  with  the 
Danes.  However  thoroughly  they  were  beaten,  the 
Danes  had  only  to  fall  back  behind  their  intrench- 
ments,  and  wait  in  patience  till  the  two  months  of 
the  host's  service  were  over,  and  the  force  which 
*  besieged  them  melted  away.  It  was  this  which  had 
again  and  again  neutralized  the  successes  of  the 
West-Saxon  kings.  It  was  the  thinning  of  their 
own  ranks  in  the  hour  of  victory  which  forced 
y^thelred  to  conventions  such  as  that  of  Notting- 
ham, and  Alfred  to  conventions  such  as  that  of 
Exeter.  The  Dane,  in  fact,  had  changed  the  whole 
conditions  of  existing   warfare.      His   forces   were 

*  Ine's  Law;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  134,  135. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


129 


really  standing  armies,  and  a  standing  army  of  some  chap.  iv. 
sort  was  needed  to  meet  them.  muied. 

It  was  to  provide  such  a  force  that  the  kings,  sts^oi. 
from  i^lfred  to  ^^thelstan,  gave  a  new  extension  ThTtiie^n- 
to  the  class  of  thegns.'  The  growth  of  this  class  d^P^ 
had  formed,  as  we  have  seen,  a  marked  part  of  the 
social  revolution  which  had  preceded  the  Danish 
wars.  But  a  fresh  importance  had  been  given  to 
the  thegn  by  the  shock  which  the  structure  of  so- 
ciety had  received  from  the  long  struggle.  The 
free  ceorl  had  above  all  felt  the  stress  of  war ;  in 
his  need  of  a  protector  he  was  beginning  to  waive 
freedom  for  safety,  and  to  "  commend  "  himself  to 
a  thegn  who  would  fight  for  him  on  condition  that 
he  followed  his  new  "  lord "  as  his  "  man "  to  the 
field.  On  the  other  hand  the  lands  wasted  by  the 
Danes  were  repeopled  for  the  most  part  by  the 
rural  nobles,  who  provided  the  settlers  with  cattle 
and  implements  of  culture,  and  in  turn  received 
service  from  them.''  So  rapid  was  this  process  that 
the  class  of  free  ceorls  seems  to  have  become  all 
but  extinguished,  while  that  of  thegns,  in  its  various 
degrees — king's  thegn,  the  "  baron  "  of  the  later  feu- 
dalism ;  middle  thegn,  a  predecessor  of  the  country 
knight ;  and  lesser  thegn,  or  all  who  possessed 
"soke,"  or  private  jurisdiction  within  their  lands'— 
came  to  include  the  bulk  of  the  land-owners.  The 
warlike  temper  of  the  thegnhood,  its  military  tra- 
ditions, its  dependence  on  the  king  at  whose  sum- 

^  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  220  et  seq. 

"  Cod.  Dip.  1089.    See  Robertson's  remarks,  Hist.  Essays,  Introd. 
p.  liv.,  note. 
^  Cnut's  Laws,  sec.  72;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  415. 

9 


I^O       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  mons  it  was  bound  to  appear  in  the  host,  above  all, 
lEifred.  its  wealth  enabled  it  to  bring  to  the  field  a  force 
878^01.  well  equipped  and  provided  with  resources  for  a 
campaign ;  and  it  was  with  a  sound  instinct  that 
i^lfred  and  his  house  seized  on  it  as  the  nucleus 
of  a  new  military  system. 
The  new  j^g  spccial  recognition,  as  a  leading  element  in 
our  social  organization,  belongs  most  probably  to 
his  days  or  to  those  of  his  son;  and  a  law  which 
we  may  look  upon  as  part,  at  least,  of  the  king's 
reforms  gave  the  class  of  thegns  at  once  a  wide 
military  extension  by  subjecting  all  owners  of  five 
hides  of  land  to  thegn  service/  By  a  development 
of  the  same  principle  which  we  find  established  in 
later  times,  but  whose  origin  we  may  fairly  look  for 
here,  the  whole  country  was  divided  into  military 
districts,  each  five  hides  sending  an  armed  man  at 
the  king's  summons,  and  providing  him  with  vict- 
uals and  pay.  Each  borough,  too,  was  rated  as  one 
or  more  such  districts,  and  sent  its  due  contingent, 
from  one  soldier  to  twelve.  While  this  organiza- 
tion furnished  the  solid  nucleus  of  a  well-armed  and 
permanent  force,  the  duty  of  every  freeman  to  join 
the  host  remained  binding  as  before.  But  a  simple 
reform  met  some,  at  least,  of  the  difficulties  which 
had  as  yet  neutralized  its  effectiveness.  On  the 
resumption  of  the  w^ar  we  find  that  Alfred  had  re- 
organized this  national  force  by  dividing  the  fyrd 

»  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws  and  Inst.  i.  191.  "  If  a  ceorl  thrived  so  that 
he  had  fully  five  hides  of  his  own  land,  church  and  kitchen,  bell- 
house  and  '  burh'-gate-seat,  and  special  duty  in  the  king^s  hall,  then 
was  he  thenceforth  of  thane-right  worthy."  Compare  the  North- 
peoples'  Law,  sees.  5  and  9,  ibid.  pp.  187,  189. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       i^i 

into  two  halves,  each  of  which  took  by  turns  its  chap,  iv. 
service  in   the  field,  while  the  other  half  was  ex-   mibed. 
empted  from  field-service  on  condition  of  defend-  sts^oi. 
ing  its  own  burhs  and  manning  the  rough  intrench- 
ments  round  every  township/     A  garrison  and  re- 
serve force  was  thus  added  to  the  army  on  service ; 
and  the  attendance  of  its  warriors  in  the  field  could 
be  more  rigorously  enforced. 

Further  than  this  it  was  impossible  to  go.  But  J^l^f/^^^ 
the  results  of  the  new  system  were  seen  when  the 
war  broke  out  again  in  later  years.  The  balance 
of  warlike  effectiveness  passed  from  the  invaders  to  . 
the  West  Saxons.  The  fyrd  became  an  army.  In 
the  skilful  choice  of  positions,  in  the  use  of  in- 
trenchments,  in  rapidity  of  marching,  as  well  as  in 
the  shock  of  the  battle-field,  the  Danes  found  them- 
selves face  to  face  with  men  who  had  patiently 
learned  to  be  their  match.  The  reorganization  of 
the  fyrd,  however,  was  only  a  part  of  the  task  of 
military  reform  which  Alfred  set  himself.  Alone 
among  the  rulers  of  his  time  he  saw  that  the  battle 
with  the  pirates  must  really  be  fought  out  upon  the 
sea.  Clear  them  from  the  land  as  he  might,  safety 
was  impossible  while  every  inch  of  blue  water  which 
washed  the  English  coast  was  the  Northman's  realm. 
But  to  win  the  sea  was  a  harder  task  than  to  win 
back  the  land.  Alfred  had  only  to  organize  the 
national  army;  he  had  to  create  a  national  fleet.  It 
was  not,  indeed,  that  Englishmen  had  ever  lost  their 
love  for  the  sea ;  fishers  and  coasters  abounded  from 
the  first  along  the  Northumbrian  shore,  and  ports 
such  as  Yarmouth  and  London  can  hardly  have  de- 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  894. 


1^2  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


o 


CHAP.  IV.  pended  for  traffic  on  foreign  shipping.  That  no 
iEifred.  mention  is  made  in  earlier  times  of  a  "  ship-fyrd,"  or 
878^01.  assessment  for  the  equipment  of  a  fleet,  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  struggles  of  early  England  had  as 
yet  been  land  struggles, within  the  bounds  of  the 
country  itself ;  but  on  the  first  outbreak  of  a  foreign 
war — the  war  of  Ecgfrith  with  Ireland — the  Irish 
coast  was  ravaged  by  a  fleet  which  must  have  been 
raised  through  a  public  contribution  and  manned  by 
sailors  accustomed  to  stormy  seas/  In  the  south, 
indeed,  no  English  navy  seems  to  have  existed  dur- 
ing the  earlier  period  of  the  northern  attacks.  The 
seizure  of  Wareham,  however,  spurred  Alfred  to 
create  a  fleet."  /He  built  larger  ships  than  had  as 
yet  been  used  for  warfare ;  and  though  forced  by 
the  greater  skill  of  the  Northmen  in  sea  matters  to 
man  his  vessels  with  "  pirates  "  from  Friesland,  their 
action  did  much  to  decide  the  fate  of  Exeter.  This 
naval  force  was  steadily  developed.^  In  -Alfred's 
later  years  his  fleet  was  strong  enough  to  encounter 
the  pirate-ships  of  the  East  Anglians ;  and  in  the 
reign  of  his  son  an  English  force  of  a  hundred  ves- 
sels asserted  its  mastery  of  the  Channel.* 
yE/fred  A  work  of  cvcn  greater  difficulty  than  the  reor- 
^^^ justice. '  ganization  of  fyrd  or  fleet  was  the  reorganization  of 
public  justice.     Here  ^Elfred's  efforts  again  fell  in 

'  A.  D.  684.     Baeda,  H.  E.  lib.  iv.  c.  26.— (A.  S.  G.) 

^  Asser,  a.  877  (ed.  Wise,  p.  29) :  "  Jussit  cymbas  et  galeas,  id  est, 
longas  naves  fabricari  per  regnum." 

^  See  Eng.  Chron.  a.  897. 

*  We  can  hardly  attribute  to  Alfred  the  law  that  we  find  in  force 
in  Eadgar's  day,  by  which  a  ship  was  due  from  every  three  hun- 
dreds, probably  of  the  coast-shires ;  but  some  such  law  there  must 
have  been  to  account  for  Eadward's  fleet. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       i^^ 

with  the  silent  revolution  which  was  undoing  the  chap.iv. 
older  institutions  of  the  English  race.  The  change  Alfred, 
in  the  character  and  conception  of  the  kingship,  s'is^ol 
which  was  being  brought  about  by  the  consolidation 
of  the  peoples  into  a  single  monarchy,  as  well  as  by 
the  new  tie  of  personal  allegiance  which  bound  men 
to  the  "lord  of  the  land,"  was  bringing  with  it  a  cor- 
responding modification  in  the  notions  of  justice 
and  local  government.  The  "peace  of  the  folk" 
was  becoming  more  and  more,  both  in  feeling  and 
in  fact,  "  the  king's  peace," '  while  public  justice  was 
more  and  more  conceived  of  as  emanating  from  the 
power  and  action  of  the  sovereign  rather  than  as  a 
right  inherent  in  the  community  itself.  That  this 
change  of  sentiment  was  of  far  older  date  than  Al- 
fred's time,  we  see  from  the  language  of  the  king. 
The  conception  of  justice,  as  inherent  in  the  local 
jurisdictions,  or  as  flowing  from  the  will  of  the  peo- 
ple, has  wholly  vanished.  In  ^^Ifred's  mind  justice 
flows  to  every  court  from  the  king  himself,  of  whose 
judicial  power  each  is  representative,  and  who,  as 
the  fountain  and  source  of  justice,  was  bound  on  ap- 
peal to  correct  or  confirm  the  judgment  of  all.  "  It 
is  by  gift  from  God  and  from-mei"  he  says  to  all^who 
claim  jurisdiction,  "  that  you  occupy  your  ofiice  and 
rank.'"  Not  only  did  an  appeal  lie  to  him  person- 
ally from  every  court,  but  we  find  him  exercising 
this  jurisdiction  through  delegated  judges,  in  whose 
action  we  see  the  first  traces  of  the  judicial  author- 
ity of  the  Royal  Council.     "  All  the  law  dooms  of 

'  See  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  208-212. 

^  "  Dei  dono  et  meo  sapientium  ministerium  et  gradus  usurpas- 
tis,"  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  70. 


134       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  his  land  that  were  given  in  his  absence  he  used  to 
jEifred.  keenly  question,  of  whatever  sort  they  were,  just  or 
878^01.  unjust;   and  if  he  found  any  wrong-doing  in  them 
he  would  call  the  judges  themselves  before  him,  and 
either  by  his  own  mouth  or  by  some  other  of  his 
faithful  men  seek  out  why  they  gave  doom  so  un- 
righteous, whether  through  ignorance  or  ill-will,  or 
for  love  or  from  hate  of  any,  or  for  greed  of  gold." ' 
The  law  was,  in  fact,  now  the  king's  law :  offences 
,  against  it  are  offences   against  the  king,  and  con- 
f  tempt  of  its  courts  is  contempt  of  the  king.' 
^Jfyed^s      This  new  conception  of  justice  received  a  power- 
ful  impulse  from  the   growmg   memciency  of  the 
"folk's   justice"  itself.     Alfred's   main   work,  like 
that  of  his  successor,  was  to  enforce  submission  to 
the  justice  of  hundred-moot  and  shire-moot  alike  on 
noble  and  ceorl,  "who  were  constantly  at  obstinate 
variance  with  one  another  in  the  folk-moots  before 
ealdorman  and  reeve,  so  that  hardly  any  one  of  them 
would  grant  that  to  be  true  doom  that  had  been 
judged  for  doom  by  the  ealdorman  and  reeves.'" 

*  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  70:  "Nam  omnia  pene  totius  suae  regionis 
judicia,  quae  in  absentia  sua  fiebant,  sagaciter  investigabat,  qualia 
fierent,  justa  aut  etiam  injusta;  aut  vero  si  aliquam  in  illis  judiciis 
iniquitatem  intelligere  posset,  leniteradvocatos  illos  ipsosjud  ices,  aut 
per  se  ipsum,  aut  per  alios  suos  fideles  quoslibet,  interrogabat,"  etc. 

-  "  Ofer-hyrnesse ;"  first  heard  of  in  LI.  Eadw.  L  sea  i.  (Thorpe. 
Anc.  Laws,  i.  161),  and  so  dating  from  iElf red's  day 

'  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  69.  "  NobiHum  et  ignobilium  ...  qui 
saepissime  in  concionibus  comitum  et  praepositorum  pertinacissime 
inter  se  dissentiebant,  ita  ut  pene  nullus  eorum  quicquid  a  comiti- 
bus  et  praepositis  judicatum  fuisset,  verum  esse  concederet."  As 
Stubbs  (Const.  Hist.  i.  112,  note)  points  out,  this  shows  "that  eal- 
dorman and  gerefa,  eorl  and  ceorl,  had  their  places  in  these  courts,'* 
and  that,  "although  the  officers  might  declare  the  law,  the  ultimate 
determination  rested  in  each  case  with  the  suitors." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


135 


But  even  the  doom  of  the  folk-moot  was  subject  on  chap.  iv. 
appeal  to  the  justice  of  the  king.'  Judicial  business,  Alfred, 
in  fact,  occupied  a  large  part  of  Alfred's  time.  He  878^1. 
was  busied,  says  his  biographer,  "  day  and  night "  in 
the  correction  of  local  injustice,  "  for  in  that  whole 
kingdom  the  poor  had  no  helpers,  or  few,  save  the 
king  himself."'  The  work  was  one  which  brought 
with  it  bitter  resistance,  and  the  strife,  even  with 
men  of  his  own  house,  for  law  and  justice,  left  pain 
and  disappointment  in  Alfred's  heart.  "  Desirest 
thou  power  ?''  he  asks  in  one  of  his  writings.  "  But 
thou  shalt  never  obtain  it  without  sorrow — sorrow 
from  strange  folk,  and  yet  keener  sorrows  from  thine 
own  kindred.'"  "  Hardship  and  sorrow!"  he  breaks 
out  again;  "not  a  king  but  would  wish  to  be  with- 
out these  if  he  could.  But  I  know  that"^he  can- 
not."* 

Gloom  or  anxiety,  however,  failed,  even  for  a  mo-  £»^^isA 
ment,  to  check  his  activity  in- the  work  of  restora- 
tion/    He  was  as  busy  without  Wessex  as  within. 

*  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  70.  ^  Ibid.  p.  69. 

^  Alfred's  Boethius,  in  Sharon  Turner's  Hist.  Anglo-Sax.  ii.  43. 

*  Ibid.  p.  45. 

"  Later  tradition  (Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  i86)  at- 
tributed to  Alfred  the  institution  of  the  shire,  the  hundred,  and 
the  tithing;  and  Professor  Stubbs  (Const.  Hist.  i.  112)  suggests  a 
real  ground  for  this.  "The  West-Saxon  shires  appear  in  history 
under  their  permanent  names,  and  with  a  shire  organization  much 
earlier  than  those  of  Mercia  and  Northumberland  ;  while  Kent, 
Essex,  and  East  Anglia  had  throughout  an  organization  derived 
from  their  old  status  as  kingdoms.  It  is  in  Wessex,  further,  that 
the  hundredal  division  is  supplemented  by  that  of  the  tithing.  It 
may  then  be  argued  that  the  whole  hundredal  system  radiates  from 
the  West-Saxon  kingdom,  and  that  the  variations  mark  the  grad- 
ual extension  of  that  power  as  it  won  its  way  to  supremacy  under 
Egbert  or  Ethelwulf,  or  recovered  territory  from  the  Danes  under 


136       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  In  the  division  of  Britain,  at  the  Peace  of  Wedmore, 
jEifred.  he  had  saved  from  the  grasp  of  the  Danes  the  west- 
878^01.  ern  portion  of  the  Mercian  kingdom,  the  upper  val- 
leys  of  the  Thames  and  the  Trent,  the  whole  valley 
of  the  Severn,  with  the  outlier  of  the  Hwiccan  ter- 
ritory in  Arden,  and  the  more  northerly  region  of 
our  Shropshire  and  Cheshire.  Of  what  vital  im- 
portance this  tract  was  to  prove,  we  shall  sqe  in  the 
after-part  of  our  story.  It  was  from  it  that  y^lfred 
drew  the  teachers  who  began  the  intellectual  and 
religious  restoration  of  the  rescued  realm.  It  was 
-from  it  that  his  daughter,  in  later  days,  advanced  to 
the  conquest  of  Mid-Britain.  It  was  of  more  im- 
mediate value  as  parting  the  Welshmen  from  the 
Danes,  and  thus  paving  the  way  for  that  complete 
reduction  of  the  former,  which  was  the  necessary 
prelude  to  any  effective  struggle  with  the  settlers  of 
the  Danelaw.  But  what  immediately  fronted  the 
young  king  was  the  question  of  its  government. 
.  The  question  was  one  of  great  moment,  not  only 
in  its  bearing  on  Mercia,  but  in  its  bearing  on  the 
future  of  England  itself.  The  royal  stocks,  once 
the  centres  and  representatives  of  the  separate  folks, 
were  dying  out  one  by  one.  In  the  earlier  days  of 
Ecgberht  the  only  kings  that  retained  political  life 
were  those  of  Northumbria,  Mercia,  and  Wessex, 
with  the  tributary  realms  of  East  Anglia  and  of 
Kent.  Of  these  the  Kentish  kings  soon  came  to  an 
end,  while  the  strife  over  the  succession  in  North- 
Alfred  and  Edward,  Athelstan,  Edmund,  Edred,  and  Edgar.  If 
this  be  allowed,  the  claim  of  Alfred,  as  founder,  not  of  the  hundred- 
law,  but  of  the  hundredal  divisions,  may  rest  on  something  firmer 
than  legend.'' 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


^Z7 


umbria  sprang  from  the  virtual  extinction  of  its  chap,  iv. 
royal  stock.     But  the  action  of  Ecgberht,  even  in   jsifred. 
the  moment  of  his  triumph,  showed  that  so  long  as  878-90i. 
the  royal  races  existed  at  all,  any  real  union  of  the 
English  peoples  in  one  political  body  was  practically 
impossible. 

The  difficulty,  indeed,  could  hardly  have  been  -^//^j^^^^; 
solved  save  by  some  violent  shock ;  and  the  shock  dormanry, 
was  given  by  the  coming  of  the  Danes.  Before 
fifty  years  were  over,  the  royal  houses  of  Northum- 
bria,  of  East  Anglia,  of  Mercia,  were  brought  to  an 
end.  The  two  claimants  to  the  northern  throne 
perished  in  the  battle  of  York.  The  martyrdom  of 
Eadmund  closed  the  East-Anglian  line,  while  that 
of  Mercia  ended  in  the  flight  of  Burhred  to  Rome 
before  the  inroad  of  Guthrum.  It  was  thus  that 
the  position  of  Alfred  differed  radically  from  that 
of  Ecgberht ;  for  even  had  he  wished  to  restore  the 
mere  supremacy  over  Mercia  which  Ecgberht  had 
wielded,  he  had  no  royal  house  through  which  to 
restore  it.  He  was  driven,  in  fact,  by  the  very  force 
of  things,  to  be  not  merely  a  West-Saxon  over-lord 
of  Mercia,  but  a  Mercian  king.  He  made  no  attempt 
to  fuse  Mercia  into  Wessex ;  it  remained  a  separate, 
though  dependent,  State,  with  its  Mercian  witenage- 
mot  and  Mercian  ruler,  ^thelred,  who  may  have 
sprung  from  the  stock  of  its  older  kings.  But 
^thelred  was  simply  Ealdorman  of  the  Mercians. 
Though  Alfred  uses,  in  his  dealings  with  Mercia, 
only  the  general  title  of  "  King,"  it  was  as  King  of 
the  Mercians  that  he  acted ;  their  Ealdorman  owned 
him  as  his  lord,  and  their  Witan  met  by  his  license. 
How  thoroughly  Alfred  asserted  royal  rights  in 


1^8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cnAP^iv.  Mid-Britain  may  be  seen,  indeed,  from  his  Mercian 
-Alfred,  coinage.  Coinage,  in  the  old  world,  was  the  un- 
878^01.  questioned  test  of  kingship,  and  a  mint  which  yElfred 
set  up  at  Oxford,'  within  the  borders  of  the  Mercian 
Ealdormanry,  proves  even  more  than  the  submissive 
words  of  Witan  or  Ealdorman  the  reality  of  his  rule. 
In  fact,  Wessex  and  Mercia  were  now  united,  as 
Wessex  and  Kent  had  long  been  united,  by  their 
allegiance  to  the  same  ruler ;  and  the  foundation  of 
a  national  monarchy  was  laid  in  the  personal  loyalty 
of  Jute  and  Engle  and  Saxon  alike  to  the  house  of 
Cerdic." 

*  "  We  have  in  the  British  Museum,"  Mr.  Barclay  V.  Head  has 
been  good  enough  to  write  to  me,  "  a  whole  series  of  JEUred's  coins, 
struck  at  various  mints,  and  among  them  are  some  discovered  some 
twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  at  Cuerdale,  which  read  'ORSNA- 
FORDA.'  It  is  usual  to  attribute  these  to  Oxford."  On  a  subse- 
quent personal  examination,  however,  he  finds  that  the  word  has 
been  misread,  and  is  clearly  "  OKSNAFORDA,"  which  must  be 
taken  as  the  earliest  authentic  form  of  the  town's  name.  No  writ- 
ten evidence  for  Oxford's  existence  can  be  found  before  its  mention 
in  the  Chronicle  in  912  in  the  following  reign. 

»  We  find  -^thelred  an  Ealdorman  under  Burhred,  c.  872-874 
(Kemb.,  Cod.  Dip.  304).  His  first  extant  charter  under  Alfred  is 
of  880,  as  "dux  et  patricius  gentis  Merciorum,"  and  already  married 
to  ^thelfiaed,  who  signs  it.  In  884  he  signs  as  "  Merciorum  gentis 
ducatum  gubernans  "  (Cod.  Dip.  1066);  in  888  as  "  procurator  in 
dominio  regni  Merciorum"  (ib.  1068).  The  grant  of  880  is  "cum 
licentia  et  impositione  manus  ^Ifredi  regis,  una  cum  testimonio  et 
consensu  seniorum  ejusdem  gentis  (Merciorum)."  "Alfred  rex" 
signs  first,  then  "^thered  dux,"  then  "-^thelflaed  conjunx"  (Cod. 
Dip.  311).  Another  grant  in  883  is  with  Alfred's  "leave  and  wit- 
ness" (ib.  313).  And  so,  in  896,  when  ^thelred  summons  the 
Mercian  Witan,  "that  did  he  with  King  Alfred's  witness  and 
leave"  (ib.  1073).  In  a  charter,  however,  of  901  (Cod.  Dip.  330), 
Alfred's  last  year  of  reign,  there  is  no  mention  of  Alfred,  but 
of  "^thered  ^d(elflaedque)  dei  gratia  monarchiam  Merciorum 
tenentes  honorificeque  gubernantes  et  defendentes ;"  the  grant  is 
made  solely  "  cum  licentia  et  testimonio  pantorum  procerum  Mer- 


/ 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       j  ^g 

Important  as  was  the  union  of  Wessex  and  Mer-  chap.  iv. 
cia  in  itself  as  a  step  towards  national  unity,  it  led   JEifred. 
to  a  step  yet  more  important  in  the  fusion  of  the  sts^oi. 
customary  codes  of  the  English  peoples  into  a  com-  ^Eifred's 
mon  law.     The  sphere  of  the  written  codes  might    ^''^^•^• 
be  narrow  in  relation  to  the  whole  body  of  custom- 
ary law,  but  they  had  by  ^^Ifred's  day  come  to  be 
regarded  as  its  representatives,  and  thus  to  be  spe-, 
cially  representative  of  the  tribal  life  which  the  cus- 
tomary law  embodied.     As  king,  therefore,  of  Wes- 
sex, of  Kent,  and  of  Mercia,  yElfred  found  himself 
an  administrator   of   three  -separate   codes,  whose 
differences,  however  slight,  reflected  the  distinctions 
which  held  each  of  these   States   apart   from  the 
other.     Of  a  new  legislation,  or  of  the  bringing  a 
larger  sphere  of  English  life  within  the  scope  of  the 
written  law,  the  king  had  no  thought.     The  very 
notion  of   new  legislation,  indeed,  ungrounded   on 
custom,  was  without  hold  on  him  or  his  people.    "  I 
durst  not,"  he  says,  frankly,  "  venture  to  set  down  in 
writing  mtlch  of  my  own,  for  it  was  unknown  to  me 
what  of  it  would  please  those  who  should  come  after 
us."     All  that  he  could  venture  on  was  a  certain 
amount  of  rejection;  "many  of  those  dooms  which 
seemed  to  me  not  good  I  rejected  them   by   the 
counsel  of  my  witan ;"  but  the  main  work  was  sim- 

ciorum ;"  and  signed  "  Ego  -^thered.  Ego  ^thelflaed,"  without 
titles.  This  does  not,  however,  represent  a  new  position  taken  by 
^thelred  at  Alfred's  death  and  Eadward's  accession,  though  it  is 
notable  that  ^thelweard,  a.  894  (lib.  iv.  c.  3),  calls  him  "  rex,"  for  in 
903  we  find  a  Mercian  ealdornian  asking  a  grant  from  "  Eadwardum 
regem,  ^thelredum  quoque  et  ^thelfiedam,  qui  tunc  principatum 
et  potestatem  gentis  Merciae  sub  praedicto  rege  tenuerunt"  (Cod. 
Dip.  108 1). 


I^o       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iv.  ply  a  work  of  compilation.'     "  Those  things  which  I 

EUreA.   met  with,  either  of  the  days  of  Ine,  my  kinsman,  or 

878^01.  of  Offa,  king  of  the  Mercians,  or  of  ^thelberht, 

who  first  among  the  EngHsh  race  received  baptism, 

those  which  seemed   to  me   the   rightest,   those    I 

have  gathered  together  and   rejected  the  others."" 

But  unpretending  as  the  work  might  seem,  its  im- 

I  portance  was  great.    With  it  began  the  conception 

of  a  national  law.     The  notion  of  separate  systems 

of  tribal  customs  passed  away  with  the  weakening 

of  the  notion  of  tribal  life;  and  the  codes  of  Wes- 

sex,  Mercia,  and  Ken!  blended  in  the  doom-book 

of  a  common  England. 

The  Danes     Xhc    king's  work    of   peace,  however,  was    now 

land,     drawing  to  an  end.    We  have  seen  how  anxiously, 

while  girding  himself  for  the  coming  strife,  Alfred 

was  looking  out  through  these  six  years  of  quiet, 

from  %']'^  to  884,  over  the  West -Saxon   frontier.' 

What  helped  him  to  give  rest  to  his  land — as  he 

knew  well — was  not  only  the  peace  of  Wedmore, 

but   the  work  which  the  pirates  had  found  to  do 

on  the  other  side  of  the  Channel ;  for  their  defeat 

^  Of  the  seventy-seven  clauses  of  Alfred's  law,  fifty-three  relate  to 
personal  injuries  ;  these  are  taken  from  the  Kentish  codes,  especial- 
ly that  of  ^thelberht,  with  but  slight  change  save  in  the  amount  of 
the  fine.  The  rest  are  mainly  borrowed  from  Ine,  whose  agricult- 
ural laws,  however,  are  wholly  omitted ;  and  there  are  a  few  mis- 
cellaneous laws,  which  may  be  ^Elfred's  own,  or  taken  from  the 
lost  code  of  Offa. 

"^  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws  and  Inst.  i.  59. 

^  Among  other  causes  for  anxiety  was  the  desertion  of  English- 
men to  the  Danes.  In  Cod.  Dip.  1078  we  hear  of  an  ealdorman, 
Wulfhere,  who  "  suum  dominum  regem  ^Ifredum  et  patriam,  ultra 
jusjurandum  quam  regi  et  suis  omnibus  optimatibus  juraverat,dere- 
liquit."    This  is  a  very  early  instance  of  the  oath  of  allegiance. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       i^i 

in  England  had  thrown  them  back  on  their  old  chap^iv. 
field  of  attack  in  the  land  of  the  Franks.  The  MUvQd. 
establishment  of  the  Danelaw  gave  them  a  base  svs^oi. 
of  operations  for  descents  on  the  opposite  coast/ 
and  when  the  host  under  Guthrum  sailed-home  to 
East  AngHa,  after  its  repulse  from  Wessex,  it  was 
in  order  to  sail  off  again  to  the  Scheldt.  The  close 
of  the  struggle  in  England  threw,  in  fact,  the  whole 
weight  of  the  pirate  onset  on  the  Franks.  It  fell 
above  all  on  Northern  Frankland,  and  soon  the 
Scheldt,  the  Meuse,  and  the  Rhine  were  full  of  pi- 
rate squadrons.  The  Frank  kings  fought  bravely 
as  of  old,  though  their  strength  was  still  broken  by 
the  dynastic  quarrels  which  the  dream  of  restoring 
the  empire  of  Charles  the  Great  stirred  up  perpet- 
ually among  his  descendants.  But  the  resistance 
of  Wessex  roused  a  new  vigor  among  its  neighbors. 
Lewis  the  German  fought  the  pirates  hard  on  the 
Scheldt,  while  two  grandsons  of  Charles  the  Bald, 
Lewis  and  Carloman,  who  mounted  the  throne  of 
the  West  Franks  in  the  year  after  the  peace  of 
Wedmore,  checked  Guthrum  by  a  victory  at  Sau- 
court  on  the  Somme.  The  contest,  however,  drew 
larger  hosts  to  Guthrum's  aid,  and  an  overpowering 
force  poured  up  the  Rhine  and  harried  Lorraine 
as  far  as  Aachen.  Lewis  the  German  and  Lewis 
of  the  West  Franks  alike  passed  away  in  this  hour 
of  gloom,  while  Carloman,  still  battling  with  the 
pirate  host  as  it  poured  from  Aachen  over  Western 
Frankland,  died  in  884. 

But  the  hard  fighting  told.     The  old  ease  with  ^^^'j^f 
which  the  Northmen  passed  from  land  to  land,  as  England. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  880-884.  ~~~ 


1^2       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iv.  resistance  drove  them  to  seek  fresh  ground  for  their 
Alfred,  forays,  was  coming  fast  to  an  end.     On  both  sides 

878^01.  of  the  sea  their  hosts  found  men  ready  to  meet  blow 
with  blow.  When  the  pirates  who  had  quitted  the 
Loire  steered  for  Wessex,  ^^  If  red's  new  fleet  was 
ready  for  them,  and  a  brisk  engagement,  in  which 
four  of  their  ships  were  sunk  or  captured,  drove 
them  from  the  coast.'  The  bulk  of  their  hosts, 
who  had  followed  Hasting  to  Northern  Frankland, 
had  to  fight  a  stubborn  fight  at  Haslo  against  the 
Emperor  Charles.  Before  blows  such  as  these  the 
Wikings  were  driven  to  draw  their  whole  force 
together,  and  in  884  the  fleet  of  the  Northmen  was 
concentrated  in  the  Somme.  To  rest  idle,  however, 
was  to  starve,  and  part  of  their  host  soon  moved 
to  LorrainCy'-whilc  part  pushed  up  the  Thames  and 
beset  Rochester.''  But  the  old  days  of  panic  were 
over,  and  Rochester  held  bravely  out  till  Alfred 
could  hurry  to  its  relief  and  drive  its  besiegers  to 
the  sea  with  the  loss  of  their  horses.'  Short  as  the 
campaign  had  been,  it  was  to  have  important  re- 
sults. Though  the  repulse  of  the  pirates  had  been 
quick  enough  to  hinder  a  general  rising  of  the 
Danelaw  in  their  aid,  the  Danes  of  Guthrum's  king- 
dom had  already  set  aside  the  Frith  of  Wedmore 
and  given  help  to  their  brethren.*  No  sooner,  there- 
fore, had  the  pirate-force  retreated  from  Rochester 
than  West-Saxon  ships  from  Kent  appeared  off  t|ie 
East-Anglian  coast  to  punish  this  breach  of  faith. 


'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  882.  «  Ibid.  885. 

'  "  Equis,  quos  de  Francia  secum  adduxerant." — Asser  (ed.  Wise), 
p.  37.     This  shows  the  size  of  their  ships. 
*  iEthelweard,  a.  885,  lib.  iv.  c.  3. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       j^^ 

A  squadron  of  the  freebooters  was  captured  at  the  chap.  iv. 
mouth  of  the  Stour,  and  its  crews  slain.  .  The  insult   ^fred. 
was  avenged  by  a  sudden  and  successful  rally  of  sts^oi. 
the  East  Anglians,  in  which  the  king's  ships  were 
destroyed,  but  the  measures  which  Alfred  took  in 
the  next  year  show  that  the  rally  was  followed  by 
submission,  and  that  a  fresh  peace  had  been  made 
between    the    combatants    on    terms   that    implied 
Guthrum's  recognition  of  the  superior  strength  of 
the  West-Saxon  king. 

The  Essex  which  the  Danes  had  occupied  till  ^^'/'^ 
now,  as  a  dependency  of  their  East-Anglian  realm,  London. 
must  have  been  the  older  kingdom  of  the  East  Sax- 
ons, a  tract  which  included  not_only  the  modern 
shire  that  bears  their  name,  but  our  Middlesex  and 
Hertfordshire,  and  whose  centre,  or  "  mother  -  city," 
was  London.  London  had,  as  yet,  played  little  part 
in  English  history ;  indeed,  for  nearly  half  a  century 
after  its  conquest  by  the  East  Saxons  it  wholly  dis- 
appears from  our  view.  Its  position,  however,  was 
such  that  traffic  could  not  long  fail  to  re-create  the 
town,  and  the  advantages  which  had  drawn  trade 
and  population  to  the  Roman  Londinium  must  have 
already  been  at  work  in  repeopling  the  English 
London.  Its  growth,  however,  was  for  a  while  to 
be  arrested ;  for  the  conquest  of  the  town  by  Ecg- 
berht,  in  his  general  reunion  of  the  English  States, 
was  quickly  followed  by  the  struggle  with  the  Danes. 
To  London  the  war  brought  all  but  ruin ;  so  violent, 
in  fact,  was  the  shock  to  its  life  that  its  very  bishop- 
ric seemed  for  a  time  to  cease  to  exist.'  The  Roman 
walls  must  have  been  broken  and  ruined,  for  we  hear 

*  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  275. 


144       ^^^  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  of  no  resistance,  such  as  that  which,  in  later  days, 

jEifred.   made    the  -city    England's    main    bulwark    against 

878^01.  northern  attack;   and  in  851   it  was  plundered  by 

the  marauders,  who  again  wintered  at   Fulham  in 

880,  when  the  city  was  probably  subjected  anew  to 

their  devastations.     At  the  peace  of  Wedmore  it 

must  have  been  left,  like  the  rest  of  Essex,  in  the 

hands  of  Guthrum.     But  with  the  war  of  886  came 

its  deliverance,  for  at  the  close  of  the  strife  with 

East  Anglia  we  find  London   in   i^lfred's   hands. 

Whether  he  had  won  it  by  actual  siege  or  no,'  he 

"  peopled  "  or  "  settled  "  it,  and  handed  it  over  to 

the  Mercian  ealdorman  ^thelred  to  hold  against 

the  Danes. 

J^^'.^.         The  cession  of  London,  however,  was  only  part 

Division  'r         ^  i   •    i      ^        i  t-i 

of  Essex,  of  the  sacrifice  by  which  Guthrum  won  peace.  The 
geographical  boundaries,  which  it  names,  show  that 
the  "  Frith  between  Alfred  and  Guthrum,"  which 
has  commonly  been  identified  with  the  Frith  con- 
cluded at  Wedmore,  is  really  the  peace  of  886 ;  and 
that  its  provisions  represent  a  territorial  readjust- 
ment by  which  East  Anglia  bought  peace  from  the 
king.  The  older  Essex  was  broken  into  two  parts  ^ 
by  an  artificial  line  of  demarcation  between  Guth- 
rum's  realm  and  the  Mercian  ealdormanry,  a  line 
which  passed  from  the  Thames  up  the  Lea  as  far 
as  its  sources  near  Hertford,  thence  struck  straight 

*  "  Obsidetur  a  rege  -Alfredo  urbs  Lundonii,"  says  ^thelweard ; 
but  Earle  (Parallel  Chron.  p.  310)  argues  that  this  is  a  mere  miscon- 
ception of  the  Chron.  a.  886,  "  gesette  -Alfred  cyning  Lundenburg," 
^thelweard  substituting  "besette"  for  "gesette,"  "besieged"  for 
"colonized"  or  ''peopled."  All  the  later  authorities  follow  the 
Chronicle,  or  Asser's  "  restauravit  et  habitabilem  fecit." — Asser  (ed. 
Wise),  p.  52. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       j^e 

over  the  Chilterns,  and  down  their  slopes  into  the  chap.  iv. 
valley  of  the  Ouse,  at  Bedford,  and  thence  followed   Alfred, 
the  countless  bends  of  Ouse  to  the  point  where  its  sts^oi. 
course  was.  cut  by  the  line  of  the  Watling  Street, 
near  Stony  Stratford/     In  other  words,  the  western 
half  of  the  East-Saxon  kingdom  was  torn  away  from 
the  eastern  half  to  form  a  district  around  London." 
The  division  may  be  but  the  return  to  an  earlier 
arrangement;    for   some   such   parting   must   have 
taken   place  when    Ecgberht   joined   Essex  to  his 
"  eastern  kingdom  "  of  Kent,  while  London  was  still 
left  in  Mercian  hands.    This  arrangement,  however, 
was  so  soon  put  an  end  to  by  the  reunion  of  London 
and  Essex  in  the  kingdom  of  Guthrum,  that  it  would 
have  left  hardly  a  trace  of  its  existence  but  for  the 

*  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  1 53.  At  this  point,  where  the  line  hit  the 
Watling  Street,  the  territories  of  Guthrum  and  Mercia  ceased  to 
march  together,  and  it  was,  therefore,  needless  further  to  define  the 
boundaries  of  either.  But  the  border-line  refers  strictly  to  these 
two  realms ;  and  the  common  reading  of  it,  as  if  from  this  point 
Watling  Street  formed  the  bound  between  the  rest  of  the  Danelaw, 
i.  e.  the  territory  of  the  Five  Boroughs  and  Mercia,  has  no  founda- 
tion in  the  actual  text  of  the  frith.  There  must  have  been  a  sepa- 
rate frith  between  the  Five  Boroughs  and  English  Mercia,  no  doubt 
with  a  like  definition  of  the  boundary  line,  as  there  was  certainly 
such  a  frith  between  Wessex  and  Northumbria  (Eng.  Chron.  a.  911), 
but  both  are  lost. 

^  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  5,  says  of  London,  "Quae  est  sita  in  aquilo- 
nari  ripa  Tamesis  fluminis,  in  confinio  East  Seaxum,  et  Middle 
Seaxum,  sed  tamen  ad  East  Seaxum  ilia  civitas  cum  veritate  perti- 
net."  It  may  be  doubted  whether  "Middle-Sexe"  were  heard  of 
before  this  assignment  of  the  old  East-Saxon  borderland  as  a  "  Pa- 
gus  "  for  London  in  886,  when  the  need  arose  for  a  distinguishing 
name  for  its  inhabitants.  I  shall,  however,  deal  afterwards  with  the 
bearing  of  this  division  on  the  general  question  of  the  "  shires ;" 
here  we  need  only  note  that  the  question  has  hardly  arisen,  as  the 
line  of  the  Frith  is  far  from  representing  the  later  lines  of  the  shires 
along  its  course. 

10 


1^6       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  permanent  severance  which  was  now  made  by  the 
Alfred.  Frith  of  886.  It  was  this  which  gave  both  terri- 
878^01.  tories  the  shape  which  they  still  retain,  which  fixed 
the  border  of  Essex  at  the  Lea,  and  annexed  to 
London  that  district,  which,  from  its  position  be- 
tween West  Saxon  and  East  Saxon,  either  now  or 
at  some  earlier  time,  was  known  as  the  land  of  the 
Middlesexe.  / 

Position  Ip  a  military  point  of  view,  the  recovery  of  the 
Deifies  Thames  valley,  with  the  winning  and  fortification 
of  London,  was  of  great  moment,  for  it  closed  to 
the  Danes  that  water-way  by  which,  in  past  times, 
the  pirates  had  advanced  to  the  attack  of  Wessex. 
Its  military  results,  however,  proved  to  be  the  least 
results  of  the  war.  Till  now  -Alfred's  victories  had 
seemed  a  mere  saving  of  Wessex,  a  temporary  re- 
pulse of  the  Dane  from  a  part  of  Britain.  But  the 
character  of  the  war,  as  it  reopened  in  885,  showed 
how  much  greater  a  work  than  this  had  been  done 
at  Athelney  and  Edington.  With  the  Frith  of. 
Wedmore  the  whole  military  position  of  the  Danes 
had  in  fact  been  reversed.  From  an  attitude  of 
attack  they  had  been  thrown  back  on  an  attitude 
of  defence.  The  Northmen  had  failed  to  crush  the 
house  of  Cerdic,  and  already  it  seemed  as  if  the 
house  of  Cerdic  was  turning  to  crush  the  Northmen. 
The  driving  off  of  the  pirates,  the  attack  on  East 
Anglia,  the  recovery  of  London  and  the  lands  about 
it,  showed  England  that  in  Wessex  and  its  king 
the  country  possessed  a  force  not  only  strong 
enough  to  withstand  the  Danes,  but  strong  enough 
to  take  in  hand  the  undoing  of  what  the  Danes 
had  done. 


XeutimenL 


THE   CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  I  .7 

The  consciousness  of  such  a  change  at  once  chap.iv. 
made  itself  felt.  If  any  date  can  be  given  for  the  ^w^d. 
foundation  of  a  national  monarchy,  as  distinct  from  sts^oi. 
the  earlier  supremacy  of  king  over  king,  it  is  the  ^~~y 
^/^  .U-year  886.  In  that  year,  says  the  chronicle,  "all  \}^^\ncttionai 
t^  (^  Angel-cyn  turned  to  Alfred,  save  those  that  were 
under  bondage  to  Danish  men.'"  The  old  tribal 
jealousies  were,  if  not  destroyed,  at  least  subordi- 
nated to  the  sense  of  a  common  patriotism,  and  a 
sense  of  national  existence  began  from  this  moment 
to  give  life  and  vigor  to  the  new  conception  of  a 
national  sovereignty.  If  the  Dane  had  struck  down 
the  dominion  of  Ecgberht,  it  was  the  Dane  who  was 
to  bring  about  even  more  than  its  restoration.  Set 
face  to  face  with  a  foreign  foe,  the  English  people 
was  waking  to  a  consciousness  of  its  own  existence ; 
the  rule  of  the  stranger  was  crushing  provincial 
jealousies  and  deepening  the  sense  of  a  common 
nationality;  while  the  question  of  political  and  mili- 
tary supremacy  was  settled  as  it  had  never  been  set- 
tled before.  Wessex  alone  had  repulsed  the  Dane. 
The  West  Saxons  had  not  only  kept  their  own  free- 
dom: they  had  become  the  only  possible  champions 
of  the  freedom  of  other  Englishmen.  The  old  jeal- 
ousy of  their  greatness  was  lost  in  a  craving  for 
their  aid,  for.  it  was  plain  that  deliverance  from  the 
invader,  if  it  came  at  all,  must  come  through  the 
sword  of  the  West-Saxon  Icing.  It  was  no  wonder, 
then,  that  the  eyes  of  Northumbrian  and  Mercian 
turned  more  and  more  to  Alfred,  or  that  his  work 
gleamed  over  EnglamMike  a  light  of  hope.  His 
slow,  patient  undoing  of  the  evil  which  the  Danes 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  886.  ' 


1^8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.iv.  had  done  in  Wessex  was  a  promise  of  its  undoing 
Alfred,  throughout  the  nation  at  large. 
878^01.  But  if  the  growth  of  this  sentiment  gave  a  moral 
LMied-  Strength  to  Alfred's  position,  the  sentiment  itself 
2iairnin  gained  largeness  and  dignity  from  the  conception 
laud,  of  national  rule  which  it  found  embodied  in  the 
king.  Hardly  had  this  second  breathing-space  been 
won  in  the  long  conflict  with  the  enemy  than  Al- 
fred turned  anew  to  his  work  of  restoration.  The 
riffii  that  the  Danes  had  wrought  had  been  no  mere 
material  ruin.  When  they  first  appeared  off  her 
shores,  England  stood  in  the  fore-front  of  European 
culture ;  her  scholars,  her  libraries,  her  poetry,  had 
no  rivals  in  the  western  world.  But  all,  or  nearly 
all,  of  this  culture  had  disappeared.  The  art  and 
learning  of  Northumbria  had  been  destroyed  at  a 
blow ;  and  throughout  the  rest  of  the  Danelaw  the 
ruin  was  as  complete.  The  very  Christianity  of 
Mid-Britain  was  shaken;  the  sees  of  Dunwich  and 
Lindsey  came  to  an  end ;  at  Lichfield  and  Elmham 
the  succession  of  bishops  became  broken  and  irreg- 
ular ;  even  London  hardly  kept  its  bishop's  stool. 
But  its  letters  and  civilization  were  more  than  shak- 
en—  they  had  vanished  in  the  sack  of  the  great 
abbeys  of  the  Fen.  Even  in  Wessex,  which  ranked 
as  the  least  advanced  of  the  English  kingdoms,  J^\- 
fred  could  recall  that  he  saw,  as  a  child,  "  how  the 
churches  stood  filled  with  treasures  and  books,  and 
there  was  also  a  great  multitude  of  God's  servants ;" 
but  this  was  "before  it  had  all  been  ravaged  and 
burned." '    "  So  clean  was  learning  decayed  among 

^  "  I  remembered  also  how  I  saw,  before  it  had  all  been  ravaged 
and  burned,  how  the  churches  thn^ughout  the  whole  of  England 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       j^g 

English  folk,"  says  the  king,  "that  very  few  were  chap.iv. 
there  on  this  side  Humber  that  could  understand   Mfred. 
their  rituals  in  EngUsh,  or  translate   aught  out  of  878-901. 
Latin  into  English,  and  I  ween  there  were  not  many 
beyond  the  Humber.     So  few  of  them  were  there 
that  I  cannot  bethink  me  of  a  single  one  south  of 
Thames  when  I  came  to  the  kingdom.'"     It  was,  in 
fact,  only  in  the  fragment  of  Mercia  which  had  been 
saved  from  the  invaders  that  a  gleam  of  the  old  in- 
tellectual light  lingered  in  the  school  which  Bishop 
Werfrith  had  gathered  round  him  at  Worcester. 

It  is  in  his  efforts  to  repair  this  intellectual  ruin  Alfred's 

•  ri  1111  intellectual 

that  we  see  Alfred  s  conception  of  the  work  he  had  work. 
to  do.  The  Danes  had,  no  doubt,  brought  with 
them  much  that  was  to  enrich  the  temper  of  the 
coming  England,  a  larger  and  freer  manhood,  a 
greater  daring,  a  more  passionate  love  of  personal 
freedom,  better  seamanship  and  a  warmer  love  of 
the  sea,  a  keener  spirit  of  traffic,  and  a  range  of 
trade -ventures  which  dragged  English  commerce 
into  a  wider  world.  But  their  work  of  destruction 
threatened  to  rob  England  of  things  even  more  pre- 
cious than  these.  In  saving  Wessex,  ^^Ifred  had 
saved  the  last  refuge  of  all  that  we  sum  up  in  the 
word  civilization,  of  that  sense  of  a  common  citizen- 
ship and  nationality,  of  the  worth  of  justice  and  or- 
der and  good  government,  of  the  harmony  of  indi-  ^ 
vidual  freedom  in  its  highest  form  with  the  general 
security  of  society,  of  the  need  for  a  co-operation  of 

stood  filled  with  treasures  and  books,  and  there  was  also  a  great 
multitude   of  God's  servants."  —  Pref.  to  .Alfred's   translation  of 
Gregory's  Pastoral  (ed.  Sweet). 
*  Pref.  to  Pastoral  (ed.  Sweet). 


I^O       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  every  moral  and  intellectual  force  in  the  develop- 
.Eifred.  ment  both  of  the  individual  man  and  of  the  people 
878^01.  as  a  whole,  which  England  had  for  two  centuries 
been  either  winning  from  its  own  experience  or 
learning  from  the  tradition  of  the  past.  It  was  be- 
cause literature  embodied  what  was  worthiest  in  this 
civilization  that  JElired  turned  to  the  restoration  of 
letters.  He  sought  in  Mercia  for  the  learning  that 
Wessex  had  lost.'  He  made  the  Mercian  Plegmund 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury;'  Werfrith,  Bishop  of 
Worcester,  helped  him  in  his  own  literary  efforts, 
and  two  Mercian  priests — ^Ethelstan  and  Werwulf — 
became  his  chaplains  and  tutors.  \,But  it  was  by  ex- 
ample as  well  as  precept  that  the  king  called  Eng- 
land again  to  the  studies  it  had  abandoned.  "  What 
of  all  his  troubles  troubled  him  the  most,"  he  used 
to  say,  "  was  that,  when  he  had  the  age  and  ability 
to  learn,  he  could  find  no  masters."  But  now  that 
masters  could  be  had,  he  worked  day  and  night.'* 
He  stirred  nowhere  without  having  some  scholar  by 
him.  He  remained  true,  indeed,  to  his  own  tongue 
and  his  own  literature.  His  memory  was  full  of 
English  songs,  as  he  had  caught  them  from  singers' 
lips ;  and  he  was  not  only  fond  of  repeating  them, 
but  taught  them  carefully  to  his  children.*     But  he 

*  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  46. 

"  Eng.  Chron.  (Peterborough),  a.  890. 

'  "  Die  noctuque,  quandocunque  aliquam  licentiam  haberet,  libros 
ante  se  recitare  talibus  imperabat,  non  enim  unquam  sine  aliquo 
eorum  se  esse  pateretur,  quapropter  pene  omnium  librorum  notitiam 
habebat,  quamvis  per  seipsum  aliquid  adhuc  de  libris  intelligere 
non  posset ;  non  enim  adhuc  aliquid  legere  inceperat.'^ — Asser  (ed. 
Wise),  p.  46. 

*  "  Et  Saxonicos  libros  recitare,  et  maxime  Saxonica  carmina 
memoriter  discere,  aliis  imperare,  et  solus  assidue  pro  viribus  stu- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 


151 


knew  that  the  actual  knowledge  of  the  world  must  chap.  iv. 
be  sought  elsewhere.     Before  many  years  were  over  iEifred. 
he  had  taught  himself  Latin/  and  was  soon  skilled  878^oi. 
enough  in  it  to  render  Latin  books  into  the  English 
tongue. 

His  wide  sympathy  sought  for  aid  in  this  work  ^•f-^^'*- 
from  other  lands  than  his  own.  "  In  old  time,"  the 
king  wrote  sadly,'  "  men  came  hither  from  foreign 
lands  to  seek  for  instruction ;  and  now,  if  we  are  to 
have  it,  we  can  only  get  it  from  abroad."  He  sought 
it  among  the  West  Franks  and  the  East  Franks; 
Grimbald  came  from  St.  Omer  to  preside  over  the 
new  abbey  he  founded  at  Winchester,  while  John, 
the  Old  Saxon,  was  fetched  —  it  may  be  from  the 
Westphalian  abbey  of  Corbey — to  rule  the  monas- 
tery he  set  up  at  Athelney.'     A  Welsh  bishop  was 


diosissime  non  desinebat." — Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  43.  His  children, 
Eadward  and  ^Ifthryth,  were  not  left  "  sine  liberali  disciplina," 
"  nam  et  psalmos  et  Saxonicos  libros  et  maxime  Saxonica  carmina 
studiose  didicere,  et  frequentissime  libris  utuntur." — lb.  43.  In 
the  palace-school  "  utriusque  linguae  libri,  Latinae  scilicet  et  Sax- 
onicse  assidue  legebantur." — lb.  43.  So  of  his  nobles,  if  any  were 
too  ignorant  or  old  to  profit  by  "liberalibus  studiis,"  "Suum  si 
haberet  filium,  aut  etiam  aliquem  propinquum  suum,  vel  etiam  si 
aliter  non  habeat  suum  proprium  hominem  liberum  vel  servum, 
quern  ad  lectionem  longe  ante  promoverat,  libros  ante  se  die  noc- 
teque  quandocunque  unquam  ullam  haberet  licentiam  Saxonicos 
imperabat  recitare."  —  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  71.  Stray  references 
throughout  his  writings  show  his  familiarity  with  the  Old  English 
hero-legends  :  "  Where  are  now  the  bones  of  Weland  ?"  he  renders 
the  "Fabricii  ossa"  of  Boethius. 

'  Either  in  885  or  887.  See  Pauli,  Life  of  Alfred,  p.  169.  "  Non 
enim  adhuc  legere  inceperat,"  says  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  46,  apparent- 
ly of  the  time  soon  after  the  Frith  of  Wedmore.  I  take  "  legere  " 
to  have  its  usual  meaning,  that  of  reading  and  translating  Latin. 

^  Pref.  to  Pastoral  Book. 

'  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  61. 


1^2       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iv.  drawn  with  the  same  end  to  Wessex ;  and  the  ac- 
JEifred.  count  he  has  left  of  his  visit  and  doings  at  the  court 
878-901.  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  king.  "In  those 
days,"  says  Bishop  Asser, "  I  was  called  by  the  king 
from  the  western  and  farthest  border  of  Britain,  and 
came  to  Saxon-land ;  and  when,  in  a  long  journey,  I 
set  about  approaching  him,  I  arrived,  in  company 
with  guides  of  that  people,  as  far  as  the  region  of 
the  Saxons,  who  lie  on  the  right  hand  of  one's  road, 
which  in  the  Saxon  tongue  is  called  Sussex.  There 
for  the  first  time  I  saw  the  king  in  the  king's  house, 
which  is  named  Dene.  And  when  I  had  been  re- 
ceived by  him  with  all  kindness,  he  began  to  pray 
me  earnestly  to  devote  myself  to  his  service,  and  be 
of  his  household,  and  to  leave  for  his  sake  all  that  I 
possessed  on  the  western  side  of  Severn,  promising 
to  recompense  me  with  greater  possessions."  Asser, 
however,  refused  to  forsake  his  home,  and  ^^Ifred 
was  forced  to  be  content  with  a  promise  of  his  re- 
turn six  months  after.  "  And  when  he  seemed  sat- 
isfied with  this  reply,  I  gave  him  my  pledge  to  re- 
turn in  a  given  time,  and  after  four  days  took  horse 
again  and  set  out  on  my  return  to  my  country.  But 
after  I  had  left  him  and  reached  the  city  of  Win- 
chester, a  dangerous  fever  laid  hold  of  me,  and  for 
twelve  months  and  a  week  I  lay  with  little  hope  of 
life.  And  when  at  the  set  time  I  did  not  return  to 
him  as  I  had  promised,  he  sent  messengers  to  me 
to  hasten  my  riding  to  him,  and  seek  for  the  cause 
of  my  delay.  But,  as  I  could  not  take  horse,  I  sent 
another  messenger  back  to  him  to  show  him  the 
cause  of  my  tarrying,  and  to  declare  that  if  I  recov- 
ered from  my  infirmity  I  would  fulfil  the  promise  I 


J'l'^'rr,',:^ 


f 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


had  made.  When  my  sickness  then  had  departet 
I  devoted  myself  to  the  king's  service  on  these  terms,  JEifred. 
that  I  should  stay  with  him  for  six  months  in  every  878^oi. 
year,  if  I  could,  or,  if  not,  I  should  stay  three  months 
in  Britain  and  three  months  in  Saxon-land.  So  it 
came  about  that  I  made  my  way  to  him  in  the 
king's  house,  which  is  called  Leonaford,  and  was 
greeted  by  him  with  all  honor.  And  that  time  I 
stayed  with  him  in  his  court  through  eight  months, 
during  which  I  read  to  him/  whatever  books  he 
would  that  we  had  at  hand ;  for  it  is  his  constant 
wont,  whatever  be  the  hinderances  either  in  mind 
or  body,  by  day  and  by  night,  either  himself  to  read 
books  aloud  or  to  listen  to  others  reading  them." ' 

The  work,  however,  which  most  told  upon  English  ^^f^^-j^ 
culture  was  done,  not  by  these  scholars,  but  by  ^^1-  Prose. 
fred  himself.  The  king  s  aim  was  simple  and  prac- 
tical. He  desired  that  "  every  youth  now  in  England, 
that  is  freeborn  and  has  wealth  enough,  be  set  to 
learn,  as  long  as  he  is  not  fit  for  any  other  occupa- 
tion, till  they  well  know  how  to  read  English  writ- 
ing; and  let  those  be  afterwards  taught  in  the  Latin 
tongue  who  are  to  continue  learning,  and  be  pro- 
moted to  a  higher  rank." '  For  this  purpose  he  set 
up,  like  Charles  the  Great,  a  school  for  the  young 
nobles  at  his  own  court.'  Books  were  needed  for 
them  as  well  as  for  the  priests,  to  the  bulk  of  whoni 
Latin  was  a  strange  tongue,  and  the  king  set  him- 
self to  provide  English  books  for  these  readers.  It 
was  in  carrying  out  this  simple  purpose  that  Alfred 

*  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  pp.  47-51. 
=  Pref.  to  Pastoral  (ed.  Sweet). 
^  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  pp.  43, 44, 


1^4       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  changed  the  whole  front  of  English  literature.  In 
MUred.  the  paraphrase  of  Cadmon,  in  the  epic  of  Beowulf, 
878^01.  ii^  the  verses  of  Northumbrian  singers,  in  battle- 
songs  and  ballads,  English  poetry  had  already  risen 
to  a  grand  and  vigorous  life.  But  English  prose 
hardly  existed.  Since  Theodore's  time  theology 
had  been  the  favorite  study  of  English  scholars, 
and  theology  naturally  took  a  Latin  shape.  His- 
torical literature  followed  Baeda's  lead  in  finding  a 
Latin  vehicle  of  expression.'  Saints'  lives,  which 
had  now  become  numerous,  were  as  yet  always  writ- 
ten in  Latin.  It  w^as  from  y^lfred's  day  that  this 
tide  of  literary  fashion  suddenly  turned.  English 
prose  started  vigorously  into  life.  Theology  stooped 
to  an  English  dress."  History  became  almost  whol- 
ly vernacular."  The  translation  of  Latin  saint-lives 
into  English  became  one  of  the  most  popular  liter- 
ary trades  of  the  day.  Even  medicine  found  Eng- 
lish interpreters.  A  national  literature,  in  fact, 
sprang  suddenly  into  existence  which  was  without 
parallel  in  the  western  world.* 

^  "  The  charters  anterior  to  JEUred  are  invariably  in  Latin." — Pal- 
grave,  Engl.  Commonw.  i.  56. 

'  From  the  time  of  .Alfred's  version  of  "  The  Pastoral  Book,"  re- 
ligious works  like  .^Ifric's  Homilies  are  written  in  English.  In  this 
vernacular  theology  England  stood  alone. 

'  From  the  days  of  Alfred  to  the  eve  of  the  Norman  Conquest, 
when  the  "Vita  Haroldi"  forms  an  exception  (for  the  Encomium 
Emmse  is  hardly  of  English  origin),  we  possess  only  a  single  Latin 
historian,  the  ealdorman  ^thelweard. 

*  "The  old  English  writers,''  says  Mr.  Sweet,  "did  not  learn  the 
art  of  prose  composition  from  Latin  models;  they  had  a  native  his- 
torical prose,  which  shows  a  gradual  elaboration  and  improvement, 
quite  independent  of  Latin  or  any  other  foreign  influence.  This  is 
proved  by  an  examination  of  the  historical  pieces  inserted  into  the 
Chronicle.    The  first  of  these,  the  account  of  the  death  of  Cynewulf 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       i^^ 


It  is  thus  that  in  the  literatures  of  modern  Eu-  chap.  iv. 
rope,  that  of  England  leads  the  way. '^JThe,  Romance   -Eifred. 
ton^Mjes^the  tongues  of  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain —  878-90i. 
were  _only_  just   emerging   into    definite    existence  ^^^^^ 
when    iElfred    wrote.     Ulfilas,  the   first    Teutonic  ^7/"^'^- 

.  .  ttOJtS. 

prose-writer,  found  no  successors  among  his  Gothic 
people ;  and  none  of  the  German  folk  across  the 
sea  were  to  possess  a  prose  literature  of  their  own 
for  centuries  to  come.  JEnglish,  therefore,  was  not 
ctnl^hn  firnt  Tnntonic  literature— it  was  the  earliest 
prose  literature-af  tlie  modern  world.  And  at  the 
outset  of  English  literature  stands  the  figure  of 
i^lfred.  The  mighty  roll  of  books  that  fills  our 
Imraries  opens  with  the  translations  of  the  king. 
He  took  his  books  as  he  found  them — they  were,  in 
fact,  the  popular  manuals  of  his  day :  the  compila- 


and  Cynehard,  is  composed  in  the  abrupt  disconnected  style  of  oral 
conversation:  it  shows  prose  composition  in  its  rudest  and  most 
primitive  form,  and  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  earliest 
Icelandic  prose.  In  the  detailed  narrative  of  Alfred's  campaign 
and  sea-fights  the  style  assumes  a  different  aspect;  without  losing 
the  force  and  simplicity  of  the  earlier  pieces,  it  becomes  refined 
and  polished  to  a  high  degree,  and  yet  shows  no  traces  of  foreign 
influence.  Accordingly,  in  the  '  Orosius,'  the  only  translation  of 
Alfred's  which  from  the  similarity  of  its  subject  admits  of  a  direct 
comparison,  we  find  almost  exactly  the  same  language  and  style  as 
in  the  contemporary  historical  pieces  of  the  Chronicle.  •  In  the 
Bede,  where  the  ecclesiastical  prevails  over  the  purely  historical, 
the  general  style  is  less  national,  less  idiomatic  than  in  the  '  Oro- 
sius,' and  in  purely  theological  works,  such  as  the  '  Pastoral,'  the 
influence  of  the  Latin  original  reaches  its  height.  Yet  even  here 
there  seems  to  be  no  attempt  to  engraft  Latin  idioms  on  the  Eng- 
lish version ;  the  foreign  influence  is  only  indirect,  chiefly  showing 
itself  in  the  occasional  clumsiness  that  results  from  the  difficulty 
of  expressing  and  defining  abstract  ideas  in  a  language  unused  to 
theological  and  metaphysical  subtleties." — Introduction  to  Pastoral 
Book  (E.  E.  Text  Soc),  p.  xli. 


1^6       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  tion  of  "  Orosius,"  which  was  then  the  one  accessible 
iEifred.  hand-book  of  universal  history,  the  works  of  Baeda, 
878^01.  the  "  Consolation  "  of  Boethius,  the  Pastoral  Book 
of  Pope  Gregory.  "  I  wondered  greatly,"  he  says, 
"  that  of  those  good  men  who  were  aforetime  all 
over  England,  and  who  had  learned  perfectly  these 
books,  none  would  translate  any  part  into  their 
own  language.  But  I  soon  answered  myself,  and 
said,  '  They  never  thought  that  men  would  be  so 
reckless  and  learning  so  fallen.' "  As  it  was,  how- 
ever, the  books  had  to  be  rendered  into  English  by 
the  king  himself,  with  the  help  of  the  scholars  he 
had  gathered  round  him.  "  When  I  remembered," 
he  says,  in  his  preface  to  the  Pastoral  Book,"  "  how 
the  knowledge  of  Latin  had  formerly  decayed 
throughout  England,  and  yet  many  could  read 
English  writing,  I  began,  among  other  various  and 
manifold  troubles  of  this  kingdom,  to  translate  into 
English  the  book  which  is  called  in  Latin  Pasto- 
ralis,  and  in  English  Shepherd's  Book,  sometimes 
word  by  word,  and  sometimes  according  to  the 
sense,  as  I  had  learned  it  from  Plegmund,  my  arch- 
bishop, and  Asser,  my  bishop,  and  Grimbald,  my 
mass-priest,  and  John,  my  mass-priest.  And  when 
I  had  learned  it  as  I  could  best  understand  it,  and 
as  I  could  most  clearly  interpret  it,  I  translated  it 
into  English." 
Their  Alfred  was  too  wise  a  man  not  to  own  the 
*  worth  of  such  translations  in  themselves.  The 
Bible,  he  urged,  with  his  cool  common-sense,  had 
told  on  the  nations  through  versions  in  their  own 
tongues.     The    Greeks   knew   it    in    Greek.     The 

>  Alfred's  Pastoral  Book  (ed.  Sweet). 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       jr^ 

Romans  knew  it  in  Latin.  Englishmen  might  chap.  iv. 
know  it,  as  they  might  know  the  other  great  books  iEifred. 
of  the  world,  in  their  own  English.  "  I  think  it  bet-  sts^oi. 
ter,  therefore,  to  render  some  books  that  are  most 
needful  for  men  to  know  into  the  language  that 
we  may  all  understand."  But  ^^Ifred  showed  him- 
self more  than  a  translator.  He  became  an  editor 
for  his  people.  Here  he  omitted,  there  he  expand- 
ed. He  enriched  his  first  translation,  the  "  Orosius," 
by  a  sketch  of  new  geographical  discoveries  in  the 
north.  He  gave  a  West-Saxon  form  to  his  selec- 
tions from  Baeda.  In  one  place  he  stops  to  explain 
his  theory  of  government,  his  wish  for  a  thicker 
population,  his  conception  of  national  welfare  as 
consisting  in  a  due  balance  of  the  priest,  the  thegn, 
and  the  churl.  The  mention  of  Nero  spurs  him  to 
an  outbreak  against  abuses  of  power.  The  cold 
acknowledgment  of  a  Providence  by  Boethius  gives 
way  to  an  enthusiastic  acknowledgment  of  the 
goodness  of  God.*  As  Alfred  writes,  his  large- 
hearted  nature  flings  off  its  royal  mantle,  and  he 
talks  as  a  man  to  men.  "  Do  not  blame  me,"  he 
prays,  with  a  charming  simplicity,  "if  any  know 
Latin  better  than  I,  for  every  man  must  say  what 
he  says  and  do  what  he  does  according  to  his 
ability."^ 

Among  his  earliest  undertakings  was  an  English  ^^ , 
version  of  Baeda's  history ; '  and  it  was  probably  the  chronicle. 

^  See  the  instances  given  from  his  "  Boethius  "  by  Sharon  Turner, 
Hist.  Anglo-Sax.  ii.  cap.  2. 

=  Pref.  to  the  Boethius,  Pauli's  Alfred,  p.  174. 

*  Pauli  (Life  of  Alfred,  p.  180)  shows  that  the  Baeda  must  have 
preceded  the  English  rendering  of  the  Chronicle,  as  this  follows  the 
version  of  Baeda  in  one  of  its  most  characteristic  blunders. 


1^8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iv.  making  of  this  version  which  suggested  the  thought 
iEifred.  of  a  work  which  was  to  be  memorable  in  our  litera- 
878^901.  tme.\  Winchester,  like  most  other  Episcopal  mon- 
~~  asteries,  seems  to  have  had  its  own  Bishop's  Roll,  a 
series  of  meagre  and  irregular  annals  in  the  Latin 
tongue,  for  the  most  part  mere  jottings  of  the  dates 
when  West -Saxon  bishop  and  West- Saxon  king 
mounted  throne  and  bishop-stool.  The  story  of 
this  Roll  and  its  aftergrowth  has  been  ingeniously 
traced  by  modern  criticism ;  and  the  general  conclu- 
sions at  which  it  has  arrived  seem  probable  enough. 
The  entries  of  the  Roll  were  posted  up  at  uncer- 
tain intervals  and  with  more  or  less  accuracy  from 
the  days  of  the  first  West -Saxon  bishop,  Birinus. 
Meagre  as  they  were,  these  earlier  annals  were 
historical  in  character  and  free  from  any  mythical 
intermixture ;  but  save  for  a  brief  space  in  Ine's  day 
they  were  purely  West  Saxon,"*  and  with  the  trou- 
bles which  followed  Ine's  death  they  came  to  an  end 
altogether.  It  was  not  until  the  revival  of  West- 
Saxon  energy  under  Ecgberht  that  any  effort  was 
made  to  take  up  the  record  again  and  to  fill  up  the 
gap  that  its  closing  had  made.'     But  Swithun  was 

'  In  this  sketch  of  the  earlier  history  of  the  English  Chronicle  I 
have  mainly  followed  Mr.  Earle  (Two  Saxon  Chronicles,  Parallel, 
1865,  Introduction),  whose  minute  analysis  has  placed  the  question 
of  its  composition  on  a  critical  basis. 

^  Earle  finds  a  change  in  the  Chronicle  at  682.  Ine  reigned  from 
688.  The  annals  still  remained  mere  note3  of  the  death  and  acces- 
sion of  kings  and  bishops,  but  were  no  longer  confined  to  Wessex, 
including  from  this  point  like  events  in  Northumbria,  Mercia,  and 
Kent  (Earle,  Introd.  p.  xi.).  For  the  difficulties  in  the  dates  through- 
out this  portion,  from  682  to  755,  see  Stubbs's  preface  to  his  edition 
of  "  Roger  of  Hoveden,"  vol.  i.  pp.  xxxv.  et  seq. 

^  The  meagre  and  irregular  entries  from  758,  which  Earle  styles 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


159 


probably  the  first  to  begin  the   series  of  develop-  chap.  iv. 
ments  which  transformed  this  Bishop's  Roll  into  a   Alfred, 
national  history ;  and  the  clerk  to  whom  he  intrust-  sTs^oi. 
ed  its  compilation  continued  the  Roll  by  a  series  of 
military  and  political  entries  to  which  we  owe  out 
knowledge  of  the  reign  of  i^thelwulf,  while  he  en- 
larged and  revised  the  work  throughout,  prefixing 
to  its  opening  those  broken  traditions  of  the  com^ 
ing  of  our  fathers '  which,  touched  as  they  are  here 
and  there  by  mythical  intermixture,  remain  the  one 
priceless  record  of  the  conquest  of  Britain." 

It  was  this  Latin  chronicle  of  Swithun's  clerk  ^^^  ^'f^^^^ 

under 

that  y^lfred  seems  to  have  taken  in  hand  about  887,  Alfred. 
and  whose  whole  character  he  changed  by  giving  it 
an  English  form.'  In  its  earlier  portions  he  carried 
still  further  the  process  of  expansion.  An  intro- 
duction dating  from  the  birth  of  Christ,  drawn  from 
the  work  of  Baeda,  was  added  to  its  opening,  and 

(Introd.  p.xii.)  "mere  ch renography, an  ineffectual  attempt  to  fill  out 
the  tale  of  years  with  corresponding  events,"  may  have  been  thrown 
together  just  after  Ecgberht's  accession,  as  there  is  a  break  in  the 
genealogical  preface  that  precedes  them  which  suggests  that  it  orig- 
inally closed  with  Ecgberht's  predecessor,  Beorhtric. 

^  For  the  worth  of  these  ti;aditions,  see  Earle  (Introd.  pp.  ix.  x.), 
and  my  "  Making  of  England,"  p.  28,  note. 

^  Though  hardly  attributable  to  Swithun's  own  pen,  Mr.  Earle 
(Introd.  p.  xiv.)  has  little  doubt  of  the  composition  of  this  Chronicle 
"  during  his  episcopate  and  at  his  see."  The  date  of  its  compilation 
is  shown  by  the  "genealogical  demonstration"  (p.  xii.)  with  which 
it  closes  at  the  death  of  ^thelwulf.  So  far  as  we  can  see,  the  work 
was  still  in  Latin. 

'  Pauli  dates  Alfred's  chronicle-work  as  "soon  after  890"  (Life 
of  Alfred,  pp.  180, 191).  Earle,  however,  shows  the  probability  of  887 
for  the  king's  first  compilation,  as  not  only  is  there  a  distinct  change 
in  the  character  of  the  entries  at  this  point,  but  Asser  must  have  had 
in  his  hands  a  chronicle  which  ended  in  887,  the  information  he 
draws  from  that  quarter  ending  in  that  year  (Earle,  Introd.  p.  xv.). 


l6o  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  entries  from  the  same  source  were  worked  into  the 
Alfred,  after -annals.'  But  it  was  where  Swithuns  work 
878^1.  ended  that  Alfred's  own  work  really  began,  for  it 
is  from  the  death  of  ^thelwulf  that  the  Roll  widens 
into  a  continuous  narrative,  a  narrative  full  of  life 
and  originality,  whose  vigor  and  freshness  mark  the 
gift  of  a  new  power  to  the  English  tongue.  The 
appearance  of  such  a  work  in  their  own  mother- 
speech  could  not  fail  to  produce  a  deep  impression 
on  the  people  whose  story  it  told.  With  it  English 
history  became  the  heritage  of  the  English  people. 
Baeda  had  left  it  accessible  merely  to  noble  or  priest; 
Alfred  was  the  first  to  give  it  to  the  people  at  large. 
Nor  was  this  all.  The  tiny  streams  of  historic  rec- 
ord, which  had  been  dispersed  over  the  country  at 
large,  were  from  this  time  drawn  into  a  single  chan- 
nel. The  Chronicle — for  from  this  time  we  may  use 
the  term  by  which  the  work  has  become  famous — 
served  even  more  than  the  presence  of  the  Dane  to 
put  an  end  to  the  existence  of  distinct  annals  in 
Northumbria  and  Mercia,'  and  to  help  on  the  prog- 
ress of  national  unity  by  reflecting  everywhere  the 
same  national  consciousness. 


^  As  far,  that  is,  as  Baeda  goes,  to  731.  From  449  to  731  the  en- 
tries for  thirty-one  years  are  wholly,  and  those  for  twelve  more  par- 
tially, drawn  from  Baeda. 

^  Stubbs  (Pref.  to  Hoveden,  vol.  i.  p.  xi.)  points  out  that  its  publi- 
cation had  possibly  "  the  same  effect  on  the  previously  existing  ma- 
terials and  schemes  of  history  that  the  publication  of  Higden's  Poly- 
chronicon  had  in  the  fourteenth,  and  the  invention  of  printing  in  the 
fifteenth  centuries.  It  stopped  the  writing  of  new  books  and  insured 
the  destruction  of  the  old."  To  this  cause  he  attributes  the  want 
of  any  distinctly  Northumbrian  history  of  the  ninth  century,  in 
spite  of  the  existence  of  scholars  at  York  till  after  the  invasion  and 
settlement  of  the  Danes. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       i^j 

When  his  work  on  B^da  was  finished,  Alfred,  it  chap.  iv. 
is  thought,  began  his  translation  of  the  Consolation   JEifred. 
of  Boethius ;    and  it   is  not  improbable'  that  the  sts^i. 
metrical  translation  of  the  Metra  of  Boethius  was  j^'^^ai 
also  from   his  hand.      From  philosophy  and    this   e/"^^'^^'. 
effort  at  poetry  he  turned  to  give  to  his  people  a 
book  on  practical  theology.    As  far  as  we  know,  the    * 
translation  of  the  Pastoral  Rule  of  Tope  Gregory    ' 
was  his  last  work ;  and  of  all  his  translations  it  was 
the  most  carefully  done.     It  is  only  as  we  follow 
the  king  in  the  manifold  activity  of  his  life  that 
we  understand  his  almost  passionate  desire  for  that 
"  stillness  "  which  was  essential  to  his  work.  BjBut  it 
was  only  by  short  spaces  that  the  land  was  "  still," 
and  once  more  ^^Ifred's  work  of  peace  was  to  be 
broken  off  by  a  renewal  of  the'lold  struggle.     Five 
years,  iri3eed,  had  passed  since  the  last  attack ;  but 
with  the  death  of  Guthrum-^^thelstan,  in  890,'  the 
king  lost  his  hold  on  East  Anglia;  and  though  the 
frith  between  the  two  nations  was  not  only  renewed, 
but  secured  by  the  giving  of  hostages,  ^^  If  red  must 
have  seen  that  it  needed  but  a  little  aid  from  with- 
out to  rouse  the  men  of  the  Danelaw  to  a  renewal 
of  their  attack  on  Wessex.     And  at  this  juncture 
the  aid  from  without  suddenly  offered  itself ;  for  the 
fortunes  of  England  were  swayed  by  a  revolution 
which  was  going  on  in  the  north. 

Througfh  the  years  that  followed  the  Peace  of  J^f^^i'^. 

ITT     1  1  1  •  1   •    t        1       rair-hatn 

Wedmore  the  movement  towards  unity,  which  the 
Northmen  had  furthered  by  their  descents  on  the 
English  peoples,  took  a  new  vigor  in  their  own 

'  Geschichte  der  Englischen  Litteratur,  p.  loi.    Rd.  ten  Brink. 
— (A.  S.  G.)  ^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  890. 

II 


1 62       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  homeland ;  the  old  isolation  of  fiord  from  fiord,  and 
iEifred.  dale  from  dale,  began  to  break  down ;  and  the  little 
878-901.  commonwealths,  which  had  held  so  jealously  aloof 
from  each  other,  were  drawn  together  whether  they 
would  or  no.  Great  kingdoms  thus  grew  up  in 
each  of  the  three  regions  of  Scandinavia.  Norway 
was  the  first  to  become  a  single  monarchy.  Legend 
told  how  one  of  its  many  rulers,  Harald  of  Westfold, 
sent  his  men  to  bring  him  Gytha  of  Hordaland,  a 
girl  whom  he  had  chosen  for  his  wife ;  an^  how 
Gytha  sent  his  men  back  again  with  taunts  at  the 
lord  of  so  petty  a  realm.  The  taunts  went  home, 
and  Harald  swore,  "  Never  will  I  clip  or  comb  my 
hair  till  I  have  mastered  all  Norway  with  scatt  and 
dues  and  king's  domains,  or  died  in  the  trying." ' 
So  every  spring-tide  came  war  and  hosting,  harrying 
and  burning,  till  in  883  a  great  fight  at  Hafursfiord 
settled  the  matter,"  and  Harald  "  Ugly  Head,"  as 
men  called  him  while  the  strife  lasted,  was  free  to 
shear  his  locks  again,  and  became  Harald  Harfager, 
or  "  Fair-hair. 


n  3 


Invasion       Jhc  rcvolutiou  gavc  fresh  life  to  the  pirate  raids 

of  Hasting.     ,  ,     /.  ,         -^y         , 

abroad,  for  the  Northmen  loved  no  master,  and  a 
great  multitude  fled  out  of  the  country,  some  push- 
ing as  far  as  Iceland  and  colonizing  it;  some  sailing 
southward  and  waging  war  against  their  new  lord 

^  Harald  Fair-hairs  Saga,  c.  v.  Laing's  Sea  Kings,  i.  274. 

^  Ibid.  287.  A  poem  on  the  battle  speaks  of  English  and  Scot- 
tish warriors,  and  some  from  the  Frankish  coast,  as  engaged  in  it. 
These  were  of  course  simply  Wikings  who  had  gathered  from  these 
quarters  for  the  strife.  The  battle  was  partly  decided  by  "  the  fierce 
stone-storm's  pelting  rain."  which  formed  a  marked  feature  in  all 
northern  fighting. 

^  Ibid.  292. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       15^ 

from  the  Orkneys  and  Shetlands/  From  these  chap.iv. 
haunts,  however,  Harald  drove  them  at  last,  sweep-  ^ifre^ 
ing  the  coast  as  far  as  Man,  summer  after  summer,'  sts^ol 
and  setting  up  an  earldom  in  the  Orkneys,  which 
furnished  a  new  base  of  operations  against  the  king- 
dom of  the  Scots,  while  the  sea-kings  steered  south- 
ward to  join  Guthrum's  host  in  the  Rhine  country, 
or  Hasting  in  the  Channel.'  The  impulse  which 
the  new-comers  gave  was  sorely  needed  by  the  Wi- 
kings,  for  the  bolder  temper  of  Western  Christendom 
was  giving  fresh  vigor  to  the  struggle  against  them. 
At  the  close  of  891  the  pirates  were  beaten  by  King 
Arnulf,  on  the  Dyle,  in  a  fight  so  decisive  that  they 
never  after  attempted  to  settle  on  German  soil ;  and 
even  Hasting,  master  as  he  still  was  of  northern 
Frankland,  saw  his  host  worn  out  by  the  resolute 
attacks  of  King  Odo.  It  was  time  to  seek  new 
fields,  and  famine  quickened  the  sea-kings'  resolve. 
In  893  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  vessels 
gathered  at  Boulogne,  and  steering  for  the  port  of 
Lymne  the  pirates  established  themselves  in  the 
neighboring  Andredsweald  ;*  while  shortly  after, 
Hasting  himself,  with  eighty  ships,  entered  the 
Thames,  and  pushing  up  the  Swale  in^o  northern 
Kent  formed  his  winter-camp  at  Milton. 


'  Harald  Fair-hair's  Saga,  c.  v.  Laing's  Sea  Kings,  i.  288. 

=  Ibid.  291. 

^  If  we  follow  the  Saga,  with  Skene  (Celtic  Scotland,  i.  336,  note, 
and  344,  note),  Hafursfiord  may  be  dated  in  883,  and  the  Wikings' 
expulsion  from  the  Orkneys,  with  the  foundation  of  the  earldom, 
had  taken  place  before  893. 

*  Eng.  Chron.  a.  893.  The  "  Mickle  wood,  that  we  call  Andred, 
was  from  east  to  west  a  hundred  and  twelve  miles  long,  or  longer, 
and  thirty  miles  broad." 


J  64       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.       In  the  spring  of  894  they  pushed  their  raids  into 

jEifred.    Hampshire  and  Berkshire ;  but  the  success  of  their 

87alioi.  enterprise  hung  on  the  co-operation  of  the  Danelaw. 

Ri^ng    The  compact  with  Alfred,  however,  was  still  fresh, 

jif^^l^    and  the  English  Danes  remained  quiet/  while  the 

'  king,  who  had  detached  his   son  Eadward  with   a 

small  force  to  watch  thp  pirate  host  through  the 

winter,  and  stationed  ealdorman  ^thelred  within 

the    walls    of    London    to    hold   the    line    of   the 

Thames,  himself,  by  skilful   encampments,  held  the 

two  bodies  of  his  assailants  for  a  year  at  bay,  and 

prisoned  them   within   the  bounds   of  the  Weald. 

For  a  while  the  king  had  hopes  of  ending  the  war 

by  a  new  treaty  such  as  that  of  Wedmore.    Hasting 

swore  to  refrain  from  further  ravages,  and  confirmed 

his  oath  by  giving  hostages  and  suffering  his  two 

boys  to  be  baptized  ;''^4?ut  the  negotiations  were  a 

mere  blind,  and  the  good  faith  of  the  English  Danes 

yielded  at  last  to  the  call  of  their  kinsmen.     The 

forces  in  the  Andredsweald  threw  themselves,  by  a 

rapid  march,  across  the  Thames;  and  Alfred  had 

hardly  gathered  men  to  strengthen  the  army  which 

beset  them  in  their  camp  on  the  Colne,  when  the 

secret  of  this  movement  was  revealed  by  a  rising  of 

the  whole  Danelaw  in  their  aid. 

^Mth!      ^^^^  rising,  however,  only  brought  out  the   new 

naues.   strength  of  yElfred's  realm.     Its  policy  of  defence 

was  set  aside  for  a  policy  of  rapid  and  energetic  at- 


^  After  the  landing  of  Hasting,  "  Northumbrians  and  East  Engle 
had  given  oaths  to  Alfred,  and  the  East  Engle  six  hostages"  (Eng. 
Chron.  a.  894).  This,  however,  did  not  hinder  them  from  joining 
the  Danes,  though  not  as  yet  in  any  general  fashion. 

'  -^thelweard,  a.  894,  lib.  iv.  c.  3. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  i5j 

tack.  The  king's  son,  Eadward,  who  may  have  ruled  chap,  iv. 
in  the  Eastern  Kingdom  of  Kent,  Surrey,  and  Sus-  JEifred. 
sex,  with  the  Mercian  ealdorman,  ^thelred,  added  sts^i. 
to  their  force  the  men  of  London,  fell  suddenly  on 
the  pirates'  camp  in  Essex  at  a  moment  when  it  was 
stripped  of  defenders,  and  sank  the  ships  moored 
within  its  intrenchment.  The  danger,  however,  was 
as  great  in  the  west  as  in  the  east,  for  the  Danes 
again  found  allies  in  the  Welsh.  They  were,  no 
doubt,  summoned  to  that  quarter  by  the  house  of 
Roderic,  which  was  now  greatly  harassed  by  the 
petty  princes  of  the  border  who  owned  Alfred's  su- 
premacy. While  a  fleet  from  East  Anglia,  there- 
fore, coasted  round  to  West  Wales  and  moored  off 
Exeter,  the  host  from  the  Colne,  which  had  formed 
a  new  camp  at  Shoebury,  suddenly  struck  past  Lon- 
don, along  the  line  of  the  Thames,  and,  crossing  the 
Cotswolds  into  the  Severn  valley,  ravaged  the  lands 
of  i^lf  red's  allies.  ^^  If  red,  however,  in  person,  held 
Exeter  against  attack  from  the  West  Welsh  and 
Cornwealas,  while  Eadward  and  ^thelred  nerved 
themselves  for  a  final  blow  in  the  west.  Gathering 
forces  "from  every  township  east  of  Parret,  and 
both  east  and  west  of  the  Selwood,  and  also  north 
of  Thames,  and  west  of  the  Severn,"  from  almost  all 
i^  If  red's  England,  in  fact,  save  the  western  parts 
which  were  supplying  the  king's  own  camp  on  the 
Exe,  and  aided  by  "  some  part  of  the  North-Welsh 
people,"  they  caught  the  pirate  host  in  the  Severn 
valley  at  Buttington,  forced  it,  after  a  siege  of  some 
weeks,  to  fight,  defeated  it  with  a  great  slaughter, 
and  again  drove  it  to  its  old  quarters  in  Essex. 
Fresh  supplies  of  fighting  men,  however,  from  the 


1 66       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  Danelaw  enabled  Hasting  to  repeat  his  dash  upon 
iEifred.  the  west,  and,  marching  day  and  night  across  Mid- 
878^1.  Britain,  to  find  a  stronghold  within  the  walls  of 
D^tof.  Chester.  The  strength  of  the  house  of  Roderic  lay 
the  Danes,  fn  this  quarter  of  Wales,  and  the  occupation  of 
Chester  must  have  aimed  at  securing  their  co-op- 
eration. Deserted  as  the  city  was,  its  Roman  walls 
were  too  strong  to  force ;  but  by  a  close  investment 
of  the  place  through  the  winter,  ^^thelred  at  last 
drove  the  Northmen  from  their  hold,  though  he  was 
unable  to  follow  them  as  they  hurried  through  North 
Wales,  and  by  a  wide  circuit  through  Northumbria 
again  withdrew  to  a  camp  on  the  Lea.'  Here  they 
were  joined  by  their  brethren  from  the  Channel, 
w^ho,  foiled  before  Exeter,  fell  back,  ravaging  along 
the  coast  to  the  Thames.  A  rout  of  the  Londoners, 
who  attacked  them  in  895,  proved  the  strength  of 
their  camp  on  the  Lea,  some  tM^i^  miles  from  the 
great  city,  and  through  h^^BKlide  the  king,  who 
had  now  come  up  from  ij^^est,  contented  himself 
with  watching  it  "  wbpr  the  people  reaped  their 
crops."  But  meanwliWe  he  was  preparing  for  a  de- 
cisive stroke.  The  \\  liole  of  the  Danish  ships  had 
entered  the  Le^*^in  896,  and  lay  under  shelter  of 
the  camp,  when  the  pirates  suddenly  found  the 
river-course  blocked  by  two  strong  fortresses.  The 
retreat  of  their  boats  to  the  Thames  and  sea  was 
thus  wholly  cut  off,'  and  the  forced  abandonment  of 
their  fleet,  as  the  pirates  struck  again  from  their 
camp  to  the  Severn,  practically  ended  the  war. 
After   a  month  in  their  camp  at  Bridgenorth  the 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  895.    This  seems  the  meaning  of  a  corrupt  pas- 
sage in  iEthelweard.  '  Eng.  Chron.  a.  896. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^57 

Danish  host  broke  up  in  897.  East  AngHan  and  chap.iv. 
West  Anglian  returned  to  their  home  in  the  Dane-  ^Eifred. 
law,  while  the  followers  of  Hasting  retreated  to  their  sts^oi. 
former  quarters  across  the  Channel/  ,^ed's 

"  No  wise  man  should  desire  a  soft  life,"  Alfred  '  ^^f^- 
had  written  some  years  before  this  last  struggle 
with  the  Danes, "  if  he  careth  for  any  worship  here 
from  the  world,  or  for  eternal  life  after  this  life  is 
over."'  His  own  life  had  certainly  been  no  soft 
one.  Though  he  had  hardly  reached  fifty  years  of 
age,  ince^nt  labor  and  care  had  told  on  the  vigor 
of  his  youth,  and  he  must  have  already  felt  the  first 
touches  of  the  weakness  that  was  to  bring  him  to 
the  grave.  But  he  was  still  a  mighty  hunter,  wak- 
ing the  stillness  of  the  "  Itene  Wood,"  along  the 
Southampton  Water,  or  the  stiller  reaches  of  the 
Cornish  moorlands,  with  hound  and  horn;'  and  his 
life  was  marked  by  the  same  vivid  activity  as  of  old. 
To  the  scholars  he  gathered  round  him  he  was  the 
very  type  of  a  scholar,  snatching  every  hour  he 
could  find  to  read  or  listen  to  books  read  to  him." 
The  singers  of  his  court  found  in  him  a  brother 
singer,  gathering  the  old  songs  of  his  people  to  teach 
them  to  his  children,'  breaking  his  renderings  from 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  897. 

"^  Transl.  of  Boethius,  in  Sharon  Turner,  Hist.  Anglo-Sax.  ii.  48. 

^  "  In  omni  venatoria  arte  industrius  venator  incessabiliter  laborat 
non  in  vanum,  nam  incomparabilis  omnibus  peritia  et  felicitate  in 
ilia  arte  sicut  et  in  cseteris  omnibus  Dei  donis  fuit,  sicut  et  nos 
ssepissime  vidimus." — Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  16. 

*  "  Hsec  est  propria  et  usitatissima  illius  consuetudo  die  noctuque, 
inter  omnia  alia  mentis  et  corporis  impedimenta,  aut  per  se  ipsum 
Hbros  recitare  aut  aliis  recitantibus  audire." — Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  50. 

^  In  his  boyhood  "  Saxonica  poemata  die  noctuque  solers  auditor 
relatu  aliorum  saepissime  audiens  docibilis  memoriter  retinebat." 
—Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  16.     For  his  later  life  see  ib.  p.  43. 


1 68       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  the  Latin  with  simple  verse,  or  solacing  himself  in 
iEifred.  hours  of  depression  with  the  music  of  the  Psalms. 
878^01.  He  carried  in  his  bosom  a  little  hand-book  in  which 
he  noted  things  as  they  struck  him — now  a  bit  of 
family  genealogy,  now  a  prayer,  now  such  a  story  as 
that  of  Ealdhelm  playing  minstrel  on  the  bridge/ 
He  passed  from  court  and  study  to  plan  buildings 
and  instruct  craftsmen  and  gold-workers,  or  to  teach 
even  falconers  and  dog-keepers  their  business.''  At 
one  time  we  find  him  planning  a  lantern  with  sides 
of  horn,  whose  sheltered  candles  may  Serve  as  a 
rough  means  of  measuring  the  hours  ;  at  another  de- 
^  lighting  in  the  fair  form  and  early  promise  of  his 
grandson  ^thelstan,  and  arraying  him,  child  as  he 
is,  with  the  purple  cloak  and  jewelled  belt  and  gold- 
hilted  sword  of  a  royal  cnecht;'  at  another  time  urg- 
ing Bishop  Werfrith  to  turn  into  English  the  "  Dia- 
logues" of  Gregory,  at  another  hearing  a  law-case 
as  he  stood  washing  his  hands  in  a  chamber  at 
Wardour.* 
His  love  of      His  love  of  stransrers,  his  questioninors  of  travellers 

strangers.  . 

and  scholars,  betray  an  imaginative  restlessness  that 
longed  to  break  out  of  the  narrow  world  within 
which  his  own  experience  bound  him.'  None  were 
more  welcome  at  his  court  than  men  from  other 

^  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  55. 

^  "  Edificia  nova  machinatione  facere." — Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  43. 
"Aurifices  et  artifices  suos  omnes,  et  falconarios  et  accipitrarios 
canicularios  quoque  docere." — lb.  43. 

^  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  210. 

^  Kemble,  Cod.  Dip.  328 :  "  And  the  king  stood,  washed  his  hands 
at  Wardour  in  the  bower ;  when  he  had  done  this  he  asked  ^thelm 
why  our  judgment  seemed  not  right,"'  etc. 

*  "  Ignotarum  rerum  investigationi  solerter  se  jungebat." — Asser 
(ed.  Wise),  p.  44. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^g 

lands;  the  frankness  and  openness  of  spirit,  which  chap.iv. 
breathes  in  the  pleasant  chat  of  his  books,  showed  Jiifred. 
itself  above  all  in  his  converse  with  them,  and  a  878^oi. 
special  part  of  his  revenue  was  set  aside  for  their 
entertainment.'  It  is  in  Alfred's  court  that  Eng- 
land for  the  first  time  begins  to  emerge  from  her 
insular  isolation,  and  to  recognize  herself  as  a  Euro- 
pean State.  Not  only  Welshmen  and  Irishmen,  but 
"  many  Franks,"  as  well  as  Bretons,  with  men  alike 
from  Southern  Gaul  and  Friesland,  the  country 
about  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine  with  which  England 
was  soon  to  come  into  closer  contact,  offered  aid 
of  book  or  sword  to  the  king.  Even  Danes  were 
among  the  comers,"  for  the  fight  was  hardly  over 
when  the  fusion  of  races  began,  and  we  find  a  young 
noble,  of  "  pagan  "  stock,  playing  scholar  among  the 
monks  at  Athelney." 

Athelney,  indeed,  was  the  largest  of  Alfred's  ex-  ^^^^^"^y- 
periments  in  the  way  of  getting  foreign  aid  for  his 
religious  and  intellectual  undertakings.  In  found- 
ing this  abbey,  as  a  thank-offering  for  the  deliverance 
which  had  begun  in  the  marshes,  he  found  his  main 
obstacle  in  the  refusal  of  every  West  Saxon,  of  free 
or  noble  birth,  to  become  a  monk.      There  were 

*  "  Eleemosynarum  quoque  studio  et  largitati  indigenis  et  advenis 
omnium  gentium,  ac  maxima  et  incomparabili  contra  omnes  homi- 
nes affabilitate  et  jocunditate." — Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  44. 

^  "  Franci  autem  multi,  Frisones,  Galli,  Pagani,  Britones  et  Scoti, 
Armorici,  sponte  se  suo  dominio  subdiderunt,  nobiles  scilicet  et 
ignobiles,  quos  omnes  sicut  suam  propriam  gentem,  secundum 
suam  dignitatem  regebat,  diligebat,  honorabat,  pecunia  et  potestate 
ditabat." — Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  44. 

'  "  In  quo  monasterio  unum  Paganicse  gentis  edoctum  in  mo- 
nachico  habitu  degentem,  juvenem  admodum,  vidimus,  non  ulti- 
mum  scilicet  eorum." — Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  61. 


lyo       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  monasteries,  indeed,  still  remaining  in  the  country, 
2E^Bd.  like  Malmesbury  or  Glastonbury,  but  whether  from 
878^01.  the  shock  of  the  Danish  inroads,  or  from  the  ten- 
dency  of  popular  feeling,  or  from  the  circumstances 
of  their  original  foundation,  they  either  were  or  had 
become  groups  of  unmarried  clerks,  bound  together 
by  the  common  endowment  of  the  house,  but  re- 
fusing obedience  to  any  definite  rule.'  "  Regulars," 
as  those  who  lived  by  rule  were  called,  seem  to  have 
been  looked  on  with  scorn  in  Wessex,  and  ^^Ifred 
found  no  West  Saxon  willing  to  become,  in  this 
sense,  a  monk.  He  could  only  meet  the  difficulty 
by  a  settlement  of  strangers.  John,  the  Old  Saxon, 
who  was  among  the  foreign  scholars  at  his  court, 
was  sent  into  Somerset  as  abbot,  a  few  priests  and 
deacons  were  hired  from  abroad  to  join  him,  and, 
by  an  expedient  that  marks  the  time,  slaves  were 
bought  in  Gaul  to  serve  as  lay -brethren,  and  chil- 
dren from  the  same  quarter  to  fill  up,  as  they  grew 
to  manhood,  under  the  abbot's  teaching,  the  thin 
ranks  of   his   monks.''     The   experiment,  however, 

*  The  passage  in  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  6i,  is  most  important  in  its 
bearing  on  our  later  monastic  history.  "  Quia  nullum  de  sua  pro- 
pria gente  nobilem  ac  liberum  hominem,  nisi  infantes  .  .  .  qui  mo- 
nasticam  voluntarie  vellet  subire  vitam  habebat,  nimirum  quia  per 
multa  retroacta  annorum  curricula  monasticae  vitae  desiderium  ab 
ilia  tota  gente,  nee  non  et  a  multis  aliis  gentibus  funditus  desierat, 
quamvis  perplurima  adhuc  monasteria  in  ilia  regione  constructa 
permaneant,  nullo  tamen  regulam  illius  vitae  ordinabiliter  tenente 
(nescio  quare)  aut  pro  alienigenarum  infestation ibus  quae  saepissime 
terra  marique  hostiliter  irrumpunt,  aut  etiam  pro  nimia  illius  gen- 
tis  in  omni  genere  divitiarum  abundantia  (propter  quam  multo 
magis  id  genus  despectae  monasticae  vitae  fieri  existimo),  ideo  di- 
versi  generis  monachos  in  eodem  monasterio  congregare  studuit." 

^  "Johannem  presbyterum  monachum,  scilicit  Eald  Saxonum 
genere,  Abbatem  constituit,  deinde  ultramarinos  presbyteros  quos- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       j^j 

proved  an  unsuccessful  one.  John  was  driven  back  chap,  iv. 
to  court  by  an  attempt  of  some  monks  to  assassi-  .ffiifred. 
nate  him,  and  we  hear  nothing  of  Athelney,  as  a  sts^oi, 
school,  in  later  days. 

In  spite,  however,  of  this  luckless  experiment,  ^^^^^J^^«'^ 
strangers  were  as  welcome  as  ever  at  Alfred's 
court,  and  we  can  still  see  in  the  king's  own  words 
with  how  keen  an  attention  he  listened  to  the  tales 
of  far-off  lands  that  they  brought  him.  Othere 
must  have  been  one  of  the  Wikings  that  the  king 
had  gathered  about  him  for  aid  in  fight  against 
their  brother  plunderers ;  it  was  to  "  his  lord  King 
i^lfred  "  that  he  told  how  long  and  narrow  a  land 
was  the  Northman's  land.  "All  that  man  can  past- 
ure or  plough  lies. by  the  sea,"  hard  pressed  by  the 
"  wild  moors,"  the  broad  fells,  where  Fin  and  Cwen 
carried  on  their  warfare  with  the  men  of  the  fiords. 
Here  Othere  dwelt,  "  northernmost  of  all  the  North- 
men," in  waste  Halgoland,  no  one  to  the  north  of 
him  save  a  few  scattered  Fin-folk.  He  was  '•  one 
of  the  first  men  in  that  country,  though  he  had  not 
more  than  twenty  horned  cattle  and  twenty  sheep 
and  twenty  swine,  and  the  little  that  he  ploughed, 
he  ploughed  with  horses;"  but  he  was  wealthy  in 
the  wealth  of  the  north,  in  his  six  hundred  reindeer, 
in  his  whale-fishery,  and  in  his  share  of  the  tribute 
the  Fins  paid  the  men  of  his  country,  the  skins  of 
martens,  reindeer,  and  bear,  cloaks  of  bear  or  other 


dam  et  diaconos ;  ex  quibus  cum  nee  adhuc  tantum  numerum  quan- 
tum vellet  haberet,  comparavit  etiam  quamplurimos  ejusdem  gentis 
Gallicse,  ex  quibus  quosdam  infantes  in  eodem  monasterio  edoceri 
imperavit  et  subsequente  tempore  ad  monachicum  habitum  sub- 
levari."— Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  62. 


172       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iv.  s]^in,  and  eider-down  and  whalebone,  and  ship-ropes 
Alfred,   of  whale -skin   or   seal -skin.     Othere's    cruise   had 

878-901.  been  along  the  western  coast  northward  from  Hal- 
goland;  and  in  his  longing  "to  try  how  far  that 
country  lay  to  the  north,  and  whether  any  lived 
.north  of  the  waste,"  he  had  done  a  feat  of  seaman- 
ship which  found  no  rival  till  the  days  of  the  Tudors, 
by  rounding  the  North  Cape  and  penetrating  into 
the  bay  of  Archangel,  the  then  country  of  "the 
Beormas."  "  Thither  he  went  chiefly,  besides  his 
craving  to  see  the  country,  on  account  of  the  wal- 
ruses, because  they  have  very  noble  bone  in  their 
teeth,  some  of  which  they  brought  to  the  king." 
Wulfstan  s  was  a  less  daring  cruise,  though  it  told 
Alfred  of  the  Baltic  and  its  huge  rivers  and  the 
strange  customs  among  the  tribes  of  the  "  East- 
land," where  "  there  are  many  burhs,  and  in  each  is 
a  king,  and  there  is  much  honey  and  fish,  and  the 
king  and  the  richest  men  drink  mares'  milk,  and  the 
poor  and  the  slaves  drink  mead." '  But  both  helped 
Alfred  to  realize  the  lands  from  which  his  assailants 
came — lands  where,  as  he  notes,  "  the  Engle  dwelt  be- 
fore they  came  hither  to  this  country,"  and  the  far- 
reaching  energy  of  the  men  who  had  pushed  to  Nova 
Zembla  and  the  Neva  before  swooping  upon  Britain. 

"^clZf/  ^^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  restless  activity  Alfred  was  a  thor- 
ough man  of  business,  careful  of  detail,  industrious, 
methodical.  Each  hour  of  the  day  had  its  appointed 
task;  there  was  the  same  order  in  the  division  of  his 
revenue  and  in  the  arrangement  of  his  court.  The 
more  definite  organization  which  the  court,  the  per- 
sonal following  of  the  monarch,  was  taking  marked 

*  See  Alfred's  insertion  in  his  "  Orosius." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       jy^ 

the  steady  development  of  the  monarchy.  It  is  now  chap,  iv. 
that  we  see  coming  into  view  the  great  officers  who  JEifred. 
were  to  play  so  prominent  a  part  in  after  politics :  878^01. 
the  Horse-Thegn,  or  Constable;'  the  Cup-Thegn,' 
or  Butler,  whose  rank  may  be  seen  from  the  fact 
that  the  office'  was  held  by  the  father  of  Osburga, 
^thelwulfs  first  wife  and  the  mother  of  Alfred; 
and  the  H order,  or  Treasurer."  The  last  of  these 
was  fast  rising  into  importance  as  the  growth  of 
the  royal  revenue  enabled  Alfred  to  enlarge  more 
and  more  the  sphere  of  his  expenditure.  His 
budget  is  the  first  royal  budget  we  possess ;  and 
though  the  fact  that  the  national  expenses  were 
still  in  the  main  defrayed  by  local  means  renders 
any  comparison  of  it  with  a  modern  budget  impos- 
sible, it  is  still  of  interest  as  indicating  the  wide 
range  of  public  activity  which  even  now  was  open 
to  an  English  king.' 

A  sixth  of  the  royal  income  was  devoted  to  what  ^^^^'' 
would  be  called  the  military  and  civil  services. 
Though  the  main  cost  of  war  had  not  as  yet  fallen 
on  the  State,  since  the  fighting  man  was  bound  to 
serve  without  pay,  and  provide  his  own  arms  and 
supplies,"  while  works  of  fortification  were  a  burden 
on  buhr  and  township,'  the  new  course  of  warfare 
with  the  Danes  had  already  thrown  some  expenses 
on  the  royal  hoard,  for  it  can  only  have  been  from 
his  own  resources  that  i^lfred  drew  the  means  of 
building  the  "  long  ships  "  which  formed  the  nucleus 

'■  Ecgwulf  was  King's  Horse-Thegn  in  897. — Eng.  Chron.  a.  897. 
'  Sigewulf  Pincerna  in  892. — Cod.  Dip.  320. 
'  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  pp.  4,  5. 

*  "^Ifric  thesaurarius  "  in  892. — Cod.  Dip.  320. 

*  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  pp.  65-67. 

^  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  220,  note  3.  '  Ibid.  i.  108. 


174       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  of  his  fleet,  or  of  maintaining  their  Frisian  crews, 
.ffiifred.  Civil  administration  was  still  more  a  matter  of  local 
878^01.  expenditure,  while  justice  was  one  of  the  most  lu- 
■  crative  sources  of  the  royal  revenue ;  but  the  hoard 
had  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  household  itself,  the 
privy  purse  of  the  king,  and  the  pay  of  his  officers 
and  thegns.  Another  sixth  of  the  royal  funds  was 
devoted  to  public  works,  with  such  expenses  as 
those  involved  in  the  restoration  of  London  and 
its  walls,  or  in  the  bringing  of  workmen  and  arti- 
ficers from  foreign  lands ;  while  as  large  a  sum  was 
devoted  to  what  we  may  roughly  term  the  diplo- 
matic services  and  foreign  affairs,  though  under 
this  head  we  must  include  the  reception  and  en- 
tertainment of  the  strangers  who  thronged  the 
court,  as  well  as  the  expenses  incurred  by  the 
king's  envoys  and  negotiators.  The  public  ser- 
vices, public  works,  and  diplomacy  thus  formed  the 
main  branches  of  Alfred's  expenditure.  An  eighth 
of  his  revenue,  however,  was  devoted  to  the  relief 
of  the  poor,  and  another  eighth  to  education,  to  his 
literary  enterprises,  the  books  which  he  distributed 
to  various  churches,  and  mainly,  no  doubt,  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  palace  school.  The  remainder 
formed  the  ecclesiastical  side  of  his  budget,  half  of 
it  going  to  the  two  monasteries  founded  by  the 
king  at  Shaftesbury  and  Athelney,  half  to  religious 
houses  in  other  parts  of  the  realm,  such  as  that 
which  he  was  raising  at  Winchester,  as  well  as  in 
gifts  to  abbeys  among  the  Welsh,  in  Ireland,  and 
even  in  Brittany  and  Gaul.  Gifts  such  as  these  had 
no  doubt  a  political  as  well  as  a  religious  end,  for  in 
all  these  quarters  it  was  needful  for  Alfred  to  find 
friends  in  the  strife  that  he  looked  for  with  the  Dane. 


THE   CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND?^^  >  ^  r  ^^c        -  k      . 

That  resistance  to  the  pirates  was  a  matte^ru I  ui^SnT 
only  of  English  but  of  European  concern  was  as   Alfred, 
clear  to  Alfred  as  to  yEthelwulf,  and  at  the  end  of  sts^oi. 
his  life  we  find  him  striving  to  take  up  again  the  ^7^^*^ 
threads  of  his  father's  policy,  and  opening  a  system  /ore/-n 
of  alliances  which  was  to  be  carried  out  by  his  sue-     ''''^* 
cessors.     The  counts  who  were  now  rising  up  in 
Flanders  were,  through  their  hold  upon  the  Scheldt 
from  which  the  Danish  squadrons  had  so  often  is- 
sued, among  the  most  important  of  ^^Ifred's  neigh- 
bors ;  and  with  the  marriage  of  his  younger  daughter 
^Ifthryth  to  Baldwin  the  Second,'  began  that  close 
political  and  industrial  connection  between  England 
and  the  Low  Countries,  which  has  through  so  long 
a  course  of  centuries  influenced  the  fortunes  of  both. 
The  connection  was  no  doubt  due  to  Judith,  the 
daughter  of  Charles   the  Bald,  who,  after  her  two 
former  marriages  with  ^thelwulf  and  ^thelbald, 
recrossed  the  Channel  to  become  the  wife  of  Bald- 
win Iron-arm,  the  first  Count  of  Flanders,  and  the 
mother  by  him  of  this  Baldwin  the  Second,  while  as 
Alfred's  step-mother  and  sister-in-law  she  probably 
maintained  relations  with  the  English  court  which 
at  last  brought  about  the  marriage  of  ^Ifthryth. 
It  is  only  in  this  marriage,  however,  and  the  cease- 
less intercourse  with  the  Papal  court,  to  which  he 
seems  to  have  sent  money  and  gifts  every  year,  that 
we  can  find  indications  of  Alfred's  foreign  policy. 

His  main  work  had,  in  fact,  to  be  done  nearer  ^(fre^i 
home.     To  the  westward  he  had  to  deal  with  the  Bn/am. 
North  Welsh,  whom  he  had  severed  from  the  Danes 
by  the  interposition  of  English  Merci^i,  but  whose 
hostility  remained  a  danger  hardly  less  than  that 

^  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (ed.  Hardy),  i.  193. 


176       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  IV.  from  the  heathen.  From  the  first,  however,  his  pol- 
^ifred.  icy  in  this  quarter  was  served  by  divisions  amongst 
878^01.  the  Welsh  themselves.  During  the  early  years  of 
his  reign  the  house  of  Roderic  the  Great,  which  re- 
mained the  dominant  power  among  them,  still  main- 
tained its  friendship  with  the  Northmen;  but  the 
petty  chieftains,  whose  freedom  it  threatened,  pre- 
ferred the  distant  supremacy  of  Wessex  to  the 
nearer  rule  of  the  house  of  Roderic,  and  in  885  the 
kings  of  Demetia  and  Brecknock,  with  the  princes 
of  Gwent,  owned  -Alfred  as  their  lord,  in  exchange 
for  his  pledge  of  defence  against  their  enemy.*  Ten 
years  later  the  war  with  Hasting  widened  into  a 
war  with  the  northern  Welshmen,  and  in  897  the 
submission  of  the  house  of  Roderic  at  the  close  oL 
the  strife  left  all  North  Wales  subject  to  the  king?* 
Though  we  know  less  of  his  diplomacy  in  the  States^ 
to  the  northward  of  the  Danelaw,  we  can  see  that 
Alfred  was  busy  both  with  Bernicia  and  the  king- 
dom of  the  Scots.  The  establishment  of  the  Dane- 
law in  Mid-Britain,  the  presence  of  the  pirates  in 
Caithness  and  the  Hebrides,  made  these  States  his 
natural  allies ;  for,  pressed  as  they  were  by  the 
Wikings  alike  from  the  north  and  from  the  south, 
their  only  hope  of  independent  existence  lay  in  the 
help  of  Wessex.  Of  the  first  State  we  know  little. 
The  wreck  of  Northumbria  had  given  freedom  to 
the  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde,  to  whom  the  name  of 
Cumbrians  is  from  this  time  transferred.  The  same 
wreck  restored  to  its  old  isolation  the  kingdom  of 
Bernicia.  Deira  formed  part  of  the  Danelaw,  but 
the  settlement  of  the  Danes  did  not  reach  beyond 
the  Tyne,  for  Bernicia,  ravaged  and  plundered  as  it 

'  Asser  (ed.  Wise),  p.  49. 


THE   CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND, 


177 


had  been,  still  remained  English,  and  governed,  as  it  chap.  iv. 
would  seem,  by  the  stock  of  its  earlier  kings.     The    Alfred, 
weakness  of  this  State  drew  it  to  ^Elfred's  side  ;  and  378^01. 
we  know  that  the  Bernician  ruler,  Eadwulf  of  Bam- 
borough,  was  Alfred's  friend.' 

The  same  dread  of  the  Danes  drew  to  him  the  V^^^'l'^j 
kingdom  of  the  Scots.  The  Scot  kingdom,  which  Scots. 
at  its  outset  lurked  almost  unseen  among  the  lakes 
of  Argyle,  now  embraced  the  whole  of  North  Brit- 
ain, from  Caithness  to  the  Firths,  for  the  very  name 
of  the  Picts  had  disappeared  at  a  moment  when  the 
power  of  the  Picts  seemed  to  have  reached  its 
height.  The  Pictish  kingdom  had  risen  fast  to 
greatness  after  the  victory  of  Nectansmere  in  685. 
In  the  century  which  followed  Ecgfrith's  defeat,  its 
kings  reduced  the  Scots  of  Dalriada  from  nominal 
dependence  to  actual  subjection;  the  annexation  of 
Angus  and  Fife  carried  their  eastern  border  to  the 
sea,  while  to  the  south  their  alliance  with  the  North- 
umbrians in  the  warfare  which  both  waged  on  the 
Welsh  extended  their  bounds  on  the  side  of  Cum- 
bria or  Strath-Clyde.  But  the  hour  of  Pictish  great- 
ness was  marked  by  the  extinction  of  the  Pictish 
name.  In  the  midst  of  the  ninth  century  the  direct 
line  of  their  royal  house  came  to  an  end,  and  the 
under-king  of  the  Scots  of  Dalriada,  Kenneth  Mac- 
Alpin,  ascended  the  Pictish  throne  in  right  of  his 
maternal  descent."     For  fifty  years  more  Kenneth 

^  Sim.  Durh.,  Hist.  S.  Cuthberti  (Twysden,  p.  73).  Ealdred,  Ead- 
wulf's  son,  "  erat  dilectus  regi  Edwardo,  sicut  et  pater  suus  EadulfuS 
dilectus  fuit  regi  Elfredo." 

^  The  most  complete  account  of  Pictish  history  during  this  ob- 
scure period  is  given  by  Skene  in  his  "  Celtic  Scotland,"  i.  cap.  vi. 
Kenneth's  accession  was  in  844. 

12 


1^8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  and  his  successors  remained  kings  of  the  Picts.  At 
Alfred,  the  moment  we  have  reached,  however,  the  title 
STS^Qi.  passed  suddenly  away,  the  tribe  which  had  given  its 
chief  to  the  throne  gave  its  name  to  the  realm,  and 
"  Pict-land  "  disappeared  from  history  to  make  room 
first  for  Alban  or  Albania,  and  then  for  "  the  land 
of  the  Scots.'"  With  these  internal  revolutions  its 
English  neighbors  had  little  concern.  But  a  com- 
mon suffering  drew  the  new  monarchy  in  the  north 
to  the  new  monarchy  which  was  rising  in  the  south, 
for  the  storm  of  invasion  had  broken  more  roughly 
over  Alban  than  over  England  itself.  Shattered  by 
a  strife  in  which  its  northern  and  western  districts 
had  become  almost  independent,  and  menaced  with 
the  danger  of  actual  extinction,  it  was  natural  that  the 
kingdom  of  the  Scots  should  look  for  friendship,  if  not 
for  actual  succor,  to  the  West  Saxons  and  their  king. 
Alfred's  The  strife,  however,  for  which  this  diplomacy  was 
preparing  the  way,  was  to  be  wrought  by  hands 
other  than  the  king's.  Hardly  four  years,  in  fact, 
had  passed  since  the  triumph  over  Hasting  when 
the  "  stillness "  he  had  sighed  for  came  to  him. 
Alfred  died  on  the  28th  of  October,  901.  "So 
long  as  I  have  lived,"  he  wrote,  as  life  was  closing 
about  him,  "  I  have  striven  to  live  worthily."  It 
is  this  height  and  singleness  of  purpose,  this  con- 
centration of  every  faculty  on  the  noblest  aim,  that 
lifts  Alfred  out  of  the  narrow  bounds  of  Wessex ; 
for  if  the  sphere  of  his  action  seems  too  small  to 


^  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  i.  335.  The  first  instance  of  the  use  of 
"  Scotti  "  for  any  inhabitants  of  "  Pict-land  "  proper  seems  to  be  in 
877. — Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  i.  328.  '^Pictavia"  becomes  "Alba- 
nia" from  889.— Ibid.  335. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.      -  j^^ 

justify  a  comparison  of  him  with  the  few  whom  the  chap.iv. 
world  owns  as  its  greatest  men,  he  rises  to  their  Miired. 
level  in  the  moral  grandeur  of  his  life.  And  it  is  878^oi. 
this  that  still  hallows  his  memory  among  English- 
men.  He  stands,  indeed,  in  the  forefront  of  his 
race,  for  he  is  the  noblest  as  he  is  the  most  com- 
plete embodiment  of  all  that  is  great,  all  that  is 
lovable  in  the  English  temper,  of  its  practical  en- 
ergy, its  patient  and  enduring  force,  of  the  reserve 
and  self-control  that  give  steadiness  and  sobriety 
to  a  wide  outlook  and  a  restless  daring,  of  its  tem- 
perance and  fairness,  its  frankness  and  openness,  its 
sensitiveness  to  affection,  its  poetic  tenderness,  its 
deep  and  reverent  religion.  Religion,  indeed,  was 
the  groundwork  of  Alfred's  character.  His  temper 
was  instinct  with  piety.  Everywhere,  throughout 
his  writings  that  remain  to  us,  the  name  of  God, 
the  thought  of  God,  stir  him  to  outbursts  of  ecstatic 
adoration.  But  of  the  narrowness,  the  want  of  pro- 
portion, the  predominance  of  one  quality  over  an- 
other, which  commonly  goes  with  an  intensity  of 
religious  feeling  or  of  moral  purpose,  he  showed  not 
a  trace.  He  felt  none  of  that  scorn  of  the  world 
about  him  which  drove  the  nobler  souls  of  his  day 
to  monastery  or  hermitage.  Vexed  as  he  was  by 
sickness  and  constant  pain,  not  only  did  his  temper 
take  no  touch  of  asceticism,  but  a  rare  geniality,  a 
peculiar  elasticity  and  mobility  of  nature,  gave  color 
and  charm  to  his  life.  He  had  the  restless  outlook 
of  the  artistic  nature,  its  tenderness  and  suscepti- 
bility, its  quick  apprehension  of  unseen  danger,  its 
craving  for  affection,  its  sensitiveness  to  wrong.  It 
was  with  himself  rather  than  with  his  reader  that 
he  communed,  as  thought  of  the  foe  without  or  of 


l8o  THE   CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IV.  ingratitude  and  opposition  within,  broke  the  calm 
jsifred.  pages  of  Gregory  or  Boethius ;  but  the  loneHness 
878^01.  that  breathes  in  such  words  never  begot  in  him  a 
contempt  for  men  or  the  judgment  of  men.  Nor 
could  danger  or  disappointment  check  for  an  hour 
his  vivid  activity.  From  one  end  of  his  reign  to 
the  other  every  power  was  bent  to  the  work  of 
rule.  His  practical  energy  found  scope  for  itself 
in  a  material  and  administrative  restoration  of  the 
wasted  land;  his  intellectual  energy  breathed  fresh 
life  into  education  and  literature;  while  his  capacity 
for  inspiring  trust  and  affection  drew  the  hearts  of 
Englishmen  to  a  common  centre,  and  began  the  up- 
building of  a  new  England.  Little  by  little  men 
came  to  recognize  in  ^^Ifred  a  ruler  of  higher  and 
nobler  stamp  than  the  world  had  seen.  Never  had 
it  seen  a  king  who  lived  only  for  the  good  of  his 
people.  Never  had  it  seen  a  ruler  who  set  aside 
every  personal  aim  to  devote  himself  solely  to  the 
welfare  of  those  whom  he  ruled.  It  was  this  grand 
self-mastery  that  won  him  love  and  reverence  in 
his  own  day,  and  it  is  this  that  has  hallowed  his 
memory  ever  since.  "  I  desire,"  said  the  King,  "  to 
leave  to  the  men  that  come  after  me  a  remembrance 
of  me  in  good  works."  His  aim  has  been  more  than 
fulfilled.  His  memory  has  come  down  to  us  with  a 
living  distinctness  through  the  mists  of  exaggeration 
and  legend  which  time  gathered  round  it.  The  in- 
stinct of  the  people  has  clung  to  him  with  a  singular 
affection.  The  love  which  he  won  a  thousand  years 
ago  has  lingered  round  his  name  from  that  day  to  this. 
While  every  other  name  of  those  earlier  times  has  all 
but  faded  from  the  recollection  of  Englishmen,  that 
of  Alfred  remains  familiar  to  every  English  child. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE    HOUSE    OF   ALFRED. 
901-937. 

With  the  death  of  ^^  If  red  the  work  for  which  he  Eadtvard 
had  so  long  prepared  passed  into  the  hands  of  his 
son.'  Eadward  seems  only  partially  to  have  shared 
his  father's  taste  for  letters;  while  his  younger 
brother,  ^thelweard,  mastered  both  Latin  and  Eng- 
lish in  the  palace -school/  Eadward 's  studies,  like 
those  of  most  of  the  young  nobles,  were  restricted 

*  For  Eadward's  reign  the  great  authority  is  the  English  Chron- 
icle. The  portion  of  this  work  due  to  Alfred's  pen,  or  written  un- 
der his  supervision,  probably  ends  in  891  (Earle,  Parallel  Chron. 
Intr.  xv.-xvii.),  but  from  891  to  Eadward's  death  in  924  the  annals 
are  carried  on  by  a  writer  of  singular  force.  Of  the  years  from  894  to 
897  Earle  says,  "This  is  the  most  remarkable  piece  of  writing  in  the 
whole  series  of  Chronicles.  It  is  a  warm,  vigorous,  earnest  narra- 
tive, free  from  the  rigidity  of  the  other  annals,  full  of  life  and  orig- 
inality. Compared  with  that  passage  every  other  piece  of  prose, 
not  in  these  Chronicles  merely,  but  throughout  the  whole  range  of 
extant  Saxon  literature,  must  assume  a  secondary  rank."— Parallel 
Chron.  Intr.  xvi.  But  the  years  that  follow,  though  told  with  less 
warmth  and  fulness,  are  told  in  the  same  spirit.  From  901  to  910, 
indeed,  the  narrative  is  scanty;  but  from  910  to  924  "we  have  a 
steady,  regular,  well-written  narrative,  homogeneous  and  unmixed 
in  matter,  like  the  head-piece  of  this  section,  and  unlike  all  the  rest 
of  the  Chronicle.  It  is  all  sieges  and  battles,  and  fortifications  and 
garrisons,  and  surrenders  and  armed  pacifications.  It  is  a  model  of 
uniformity,  both  in  matter  and  manner."  —  Earle,  Parallel  Chron. 
Intr.  xviii. 

'  "  In  qua  schola  utriusque  linguae  libri,  Latinse  scilicet  et  Saxoni- 
cae,  assidue  legebantur." — Asser  (Wise),  p.  43. 


1 82       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHARv.  to  books  and  songs  in  his  own  tongue/     But  he 
The     was  already  famous  as  a  warrior  who  had  rivalled 
mhel   the  glory  of  ^thelred  in  the  storm  of  the  pirate 
901^37.  camp  on  the  Colne  as  well  as  in  the  victory  of  But- 
—      tington;  and  with  his  father's  warlike  ardor  he  in- 
herited his  political  capacity.     Like  Alfred,  he  was 
able  to  set  aside  for  years  the  dreams  of  mere  war- 
like enterprise,  and  his  earlier  reign,  though  troubled 
for  a  while  by  the  revolt  of  a  claimant  of  his  throne, 
was  in  the  main  a  time  of  peace.     The  failure  of 
their  last  attack  had  left  the  English  Danes  little 
minded  to  quarrel  with  Wessex,  while  the  strength 
of  their  Wiking  allies  was  thrown  for  some  years 
into  the  strife  on  the  other  side   of  the  Channel, 
where  Hrolf  was  establishing  himself  in  the  valley 
of  the  Seine.    The  peace,  indeed,  was  far  from  being 
unbroken.    Alfred's  death  had  revived  the  question 
of  the  succession;  the  order  established  under  ^thel- 
wulf,  by  which  his  sons  followed  one  another  to  the 
exclusion  of  their  children, was  now  exhausted;  and 
it  can  only  have  been  by  a  decision  of  the  Wite- 
nagemot  that  the  children  of  ^^thelwulf  s  elder  sons 
were  set  aside  and  the  royal  stock  settled  in  the 
descendants  of  Alfred,  the  youngest.     That  this 
decision  expressed  the  national  will  was  shown  at 
Eadward's  accession.    When  his  cousin,  i^thelwald, 
King  ^thelred's  son,  rose  to  claim  the  crown,  he 
found  himself  without  support,  and  forced   to  fly 
from  Wessex.'     The  shelter  which  he  found  among 

^  He  and  his  sister  ^Ifthryth,  who  married  Count  Baldwin,  "  et 
psalmos  et  Saxon  icos  libros  et  maxime  Saxon  ica  carmina  stud  lose 
didicere." — Asser  (Wise),  p.  43. 

'  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  901. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  183 

the  Danes  of  Northumbria,  and  his  acceptance  as  chap.  v. 
their  king,  marks   the   first  step   in  that  union  of     The 
Danes  and  Englishmen  which  was  to  be  the  work   mbei. 
of  the  coming  century;  and  the  impression  of  this  90^93^ 
must  have  been  strengthened  when,  in  905,  he  moored     — 
off  the  eastern  coast  and  roused  the  Danes  of  East 
AngHa  to  follow  him  in  an  attack  on  Wessex.'    Ead- 
ward,  however,  anticipated  the  blow  by  appearing 
with  an  army  on  the  Ouse ;  and  the  fall  of  ^thel- 
wald  in  a  fight  with  the  Kentish  division  of  this 
force  ended  the  war.     The  Wedmore  Frith  was  re- 
newed at   Ittingford  in  906,'  and  Wessex  enjoyed 
four  years  more  of  undisturbed  tranquillity." 

That  Eadward's  patience,  however,  by  no  means  King  of 
implied  any  abandonment  of  ^E  If  red's  policy,  above  sxJonL 

*  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  905. 

'  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  906. 

'  For  this  period  the  earlier  English  Chronicle  of  Winchester  is 
largely  supplemented  by  a  Chronicle  drawn  up  at  Worcester  (that 
known  as  Tiber.  B.  iv.  of  the  Cotton  Collection,  and  the  D  of  Mr. 
Earle. — Parallel  Chron.  Intr.  xxxix.  etc.).  What  distinguishes  this 
Worcester  Chronicle  is  a  large  insertion  of  northern  annals,  begin- 
ning in  737 ;  the  earlier  of  which  may  be  due  (Stubbs,  Archaeol. 
Journ.  No.  75,  p.  236,  note)  to  Bishop  Werfrith  of  Worcester,  one  of 
Alfred's  literary  assistants,  who  sate  from  873  to  91 5.  But  for  ^thel- 
flaed's  campaigns  we  have,  inserted,  a  wholly  independent  Mercian 
Chronicle,  ending  with  her  death,  and  equal  in  fulness  of  detail  to 
the  parallel  Winchester  Chronicle,  which  restricts  itself  to  Eadward's 
exploits  and  omits  those  of  his  sister.  There  are  difficulties,  indeed, 
in  reconciling  these  accounts  chronologically.  The  death  of  ^thel- 
fised  is  placed  in  the  Mercian  Chronicle  at  918;  in  the  Winchester 
Chronicle  at  922.  The  latter  is  probably  the  more  correct,  for  we 
find  Leicester,  which,  according  to  the  Mercian  Chronicle,  had  sub- 
mitted to  the  lady  in  918,  still  Danish,  and  leading  a  Danish  here 
against  her  brother  in  92 1  ;  and  as  the  preceding  dates,  at  any  rate 
from  ^thelred's  death,  are  linked  in  series  with  this  final  one,  I  have 
ventured  to  place  them  also  four  years  later  than  the  year  assigned 
to  them  by  the  Worcester  chronicler. 


184  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.V.  all,  of  his  plans  for  a  national  union,  was  shown  in  a 
The  change  of  the  royal  style.  With  Alfred  the  connec- 
JEtfred!  tion  of  his  two  realms  ^had  remained  to  the  last  a 
901I937.  purely  personal  connection.  He  had  been  Mercian 
—  king  among  the  Mercians ;  he  had  remained  West- 
Saxon  king  among  the  men  of  Wessex.  But,  from 
the  first  moment  of  his  reign,  Eadward  showed  his 
resolve  to  look  on  the  two  dominions  he  ruled  as  a 
single  realm,  and  to  blend  their  peoples  in  some  sort 
into  a  single  people.  He  is  no  longer  king  of  the 
West  Saxons  or  of  the  Mercians,  but  "  King  of  the 
Angul-Saxons." '  The  title  is  no  doubt  a  transitional 
one ;  it  represents  the  effort  of  the  king  to  look  on 
the  Mercian  Engle  and  the  Saxon  Gewissas  as  a 
single  folk  rather  than  any  actual  fusion  of  the  one 
with  the  other;  we  know,  indeed,  that  the  separate 
life  of  Mercia  under  ^thelred  and  ^thelflaed  re- 
mained undisturbed  for  all  the  change  in  the  royal 
style.  But  the  change  was  none  the  less  a  signifi- 
cant one.  If  no  such  people  as  "the  Anglo-Saxons  '* 
existed,  or  could  be  made  to  exist,  the  effort  to  create 
such  a  people  had  its  issues  in  an  after-time,  when 
not  only  West  Saxon  and  Mercian,  but  every  man 
from  the  Forth  to  the  Channel  should  be  looked  on 
by  his  king,  and  regard  himself,  as  one  of  an  English 
people." 

^  "  Angul-Saxonum  rex  "  is  his  common  description  in  the  char- 
ters of  his  reign,  a  description  almost  confined,  as  we  shall  see,  to 
Eadward.  See  Kemble,  Cod.  Dip.  333,  335,  1080,  1083,  1084,  1090, 
1091,  1092,  1093,  1094,  1095,  1096.  In  a  charter  of  901,  his  first  year 
(Cod.  Dip.  1078),  his  "Angul-Saxonum  rex"  explains  itself  by  an 
after-phrase,  "  Omnium  judicio  sapientum  Gewissorum  et  Mercen- 
sium." 

'  It  may  be  well  to  note  that  the  word  "  Angul-Saxon  "  is  of  purely 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       jg^ 

Nor  did  the  king's  policy  of  inaction  extend  to  chap.  v. 
his  Mercian  realm,  for  it  must  have  been  with  his     The 
sanction  or  at  his  command  that  the  Mercian  rulers  ^fred!^ 
took  at  this  moment  what  proved  to  be  a  first  step  in  90^1^37 
the  final  struorale  with  the  Danelaw.     In  the  Peace     -— 

00  Chester 

of  Wedmore  one  of  the  main  aims  of  Alfred  had  rebuilt. 
been  to  cut  off  the  Danelaw  from  the  Welsh ;  and 
he  had  secured  this  by  retaining  all  of  the  older 
Mid-England  westward,  as  Ayas  roughly  said,  of  the 
Watling  Street,  as  a  new  English  Mercia.  But  in 
its  northern  portion  the  barrier  was  a  weak  one ;  for 
the  extremity  of  the  tract  which  now  formed  the 
Mercian  ealdordom — the  northern  part,  that  is,  of 
our  modern  Cheshire — was  little  more  than  a  strip 
of  land  across  which  the  Dane  of  the  Five  Boroughs 
could  easily  push  to  call  his  old  allies  on  the  Welsh 
border  to  arms.  To  strengthen  this  barrier  had 
been  the  purpose  of  its  rulers  from  the  first.  At  its 
weakest  point  lay  the  ruined  city  of  Chester — to 
whose  military  importance  the  recent  harborage  of 
Hasting  within  its  walls  had  probably  drawn  their 
attention.  Commanding,  as  it  did,  the  passage  over 
the  lower  Dee,  and  the  main  roads  from  Mid-Eng- 
land to  North  Wales,  or  from  South  England  into 
the  wild  country  which  had  once  been  Cumbria, 
Chester  furnished  also  a  port  where  a  fleet  could  be 
stationed  to  hold  the  mastery  of  the  Irish  Channel, 
and  cut  off  the  English  Danelaw  from  the  Danes 

political  coinage,  and  that  no-  man  is  ever  known,  save  in  our  own 
day,  to  have  called  himself  "an  Anglo-Saxon."  The  phrase,  too, 
applied  strictly  to  the  Engle  of  Mercia  and  the  Saxons  of  Wessex, 
not  to  any  larger  area.  For  the  general  use  of  "  Engle  "  and  "  Sax- 
on," I  must  refer  my  readers  to  Mr.  Freeman's  exhaustive  treatise, 
Norm.  Conq.  i.  app.  A. 


1 86  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  of  the  Irish  coast.     Nor  was  it  hard  to  restore  it  to 
The     its  older  strength.    Ruined  and  deserted  as  the  town 
M^ed.   had  lain  since  its  surrender  to  ^^thelfrith  in  607/ 
901^937   ^^^  military  strength  of  its  position  was  such  as  could 
—     be  little  harmed  by  time  and  neglect.     The  huge 
trench  which  severed  the  block  of  sandstone  on  which 
it  stood  from  the  rest  of  the  higher  ground,  the  mas- 
sive walls  which  girt  in  its  site,  the  marshy  level  and 
the  river-course  which  formed  an  outer  barrier  round 
them,  were  still  ready  to  hand ;  and  in  their  "  re- 
newal"  of  the  town'  in  907  Ealdorman  ^^ithelred 
and  his  wife  seem  to  have  done  little  more  than  give 
protection  to  the  passage  across  the  Dee,  by  raising 
a  mound  with  a  stockade  or  fort  on  its  summit  in 
the  low  ground  beside  the  bridge,  and  by  extending 
the  older  walls  in  this  quarter  to  the  river.     It  was 
probably  to  aid  in  the  repeopling  of  the  town  that 
a  secular  house  of  the  Mercian  saint,  Werburgh,  was 
founded  in  the  northeastern  quarter  of  the  city:  and 
the  security  of  the  little  settlement  may  have  been 
provided  for  by  a  custom  which  we  find  existing  in 
later  days,  that  bound  every  hide  in  the  shire  about 
it  to  furnish  a  man  at  its  town-reeve's  call  to  repair 
walls  and  bridge.' 
Outbreak      Small  as  the  settlement  was,  the  end  of  the  Mer- 
banes.   ciau  rulcrs  was  gained  by  their  seizure  of  the  town, 


^  It  was  still  a  "  waste  Chester  "  when  Hasting  took  refuge  there. 
— E.  Chron.  a.  894 ;  Flor.  Wore.  (Thorpe),  p.  113. 

"^  This  is  only  recorded  in  two  of  the  later  copies  of  the  Chronicle, 
Mr.  Earle's  B  and  C,  at  907.  "  Her  waes  Ligceaster  geedneowad." 
—Flor.  Wore.  (Thorpe),  p.  1 20. 

^  It  was  only  by  slow  degrees  that  the  new  town  extended  itself 
over  the  ruins  of  the  old.  St.  Werburgh's  house  stood  alone  in  its 
northeastern  quarter ;  and  only  the  southern  half  of  the  city,  where 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       jg^ 

for  the  shortest  road  between  Wales  and  the  Dane-  chap.  v. 
law  was  now  in  their  hands.  That  the  check  was 
felt  by  the  Danes  was  shown  by  a  growing  restless- 
ness which  broke  out  at  last  in  open  warfare.  A 
raid  of  the  pirates  over  Mercia  in  910'  had  to  be 
repulsed  at  Tottenhale  by  a  joint  force  of  Mer- 
cians and  West  Saxons  under  Eadward  himself,  who 
avenged  the  attack  by  following  the  beaten  host 
across  the  border  and  harrying  their  land  there  for 
five  weeks.'  The  blow  seems  to  have  roused  the  war- 
like spirit  of  the  whole  Danelaw.  In  91 1  Eadw^ard  was 
drawn  southward  by  danger  from  the  sea,  where  in 
the  preceding  year  a  pirate  force  had  landed  in  the 
Severn  and  been  repulsed  with  difficulty  by  the  fyrds 
of  the  neighboring  shires.  It  marks  the  quiet  work 
that  had  been  done  in  the  years  of  rest  which  Al- 
fred had  gained  that  Eadward  was  able  to  muster  a 
hundred  ships,  and  to  ride  master  of  the  Channel. 
But  with  his  stay  in  the  south  Mercia  was  left  to  its 
own  resources;  and  the  Northumbrians  resolved  to 
avenge  the  losses  of  their  brethren  across  Trent.  A 
"  frith  "  like  that  of  East  Anglia  had  bound  them  till 
now  to  Wessex,  but  this  was  broken,  and  setting  aside 
the  offers  of  accommodation  made  by  Eadward  and 


we  find  on  either  side  of  Bridge  Street  the  churches  of  St.  Bridget 
and  St.  Michael,  can  represent  the  town  of  ^thelflsed,  for  yet  more 
to  the  south  the  church  of  St.  Olaf  marks  a  later  extension,  which 
can  hardly  be  earlier  than  the  days  of  Cnut. 

^  E.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  910.  The  raid  is  told  in  greater  detail  by 
iEthelweard,  whose  Chronicle,  till  now  a  mere  version  of  the  Eng- 
lish Chronicle  of  Winchester,  becomes  independent  from  about 
893  to  its  close  in  975.  His  whole  work,  however,  is  all  but  worth- 
less. 

»  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  910. 


1 88       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAr.v.  his  Witenagemot/  the  pirate  host,  under  its  kings 
The      Ecwils  and  Halfdene,  poured  ravaging  over  Mercia. 
jEifred^    But,  distant  as  Eadward  himself  was,  his  forces  were 
90^937.  already  on  the  march,  and  as  the  Danes  fell  back 
—     loaded  with  spoil  they  were  overtaken  and  attacked. 
The  English  victory  was  complete,  and  thousands 
of  Danes  fell  round  their  two  kings  on  the  field. 
Eadward      If  Ealdormau  ^thelred  led  the  host  to  this  tri- 
Thames   umph,  thc  cffort  must  have  been  his  last;  for  he 
^(li^ey-    (jig^  \^  912,' and  the  changes  which  followed  on  his 
death  told  on  the  whole  character  of  the  conflict. 
Within  Mercia  itself  the  change  was  little,  for  ^^thel- 
flaed,  who    remained   its   sole   governor,  had  acted 
throughout  as  joint  ruler  with  ^thelred.     But  for 
Wessex  it  was  great.     The  death  of  ^thelred  en- 
abled Eadward  to  take  a  new  step  in  the  disintegra- 
tion of  the  shrunken  Mercian  realm,  and  he  now  took 
from  Mercia  London  and   Oxford,  "  and  the  lands 
that  belonged  to  them'" — in  other  words,  the  lower 
valley  of  the  Thames.     The  annexation  was  impor- 
tant, not  only   as   pointing  forward  to  Eadward's 
plans  of  a  yet  wider  reunion,  but  as  doing  away 
with  the    barrier  which  i^lfred   had   set   between 
Wessex  and  the   Danelaw  by  the  interposition  of 
the  Mercian  ealdormanry.     In  bringing  his  border 
into  contact  with  that  of  the  Danelaw,  Eadward  an- 
nounced that  the  time  of  rest  was  over,  and  that  a 
time  of  action  had  begun.    His  course,  however,  was 
marked  by  extreme  caution.     It  was  easy  to  secure 
the  line  of  the  Thames  by  renewing,  as  Alfred  had 
done,  the  older  walls  of  London,  a  work  of  repara- 

*  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  911.  '  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  912. 

'  Ibid. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       jgo 

tion  which  has  left  its  mark  everywhere  among  the  chap.  v. 
Roman  brickwork  and  masonry;  while  the  deep  The 
morasses  along  the  valley  of  the  Lea  still  offered  ^'J'ed.' 
a  fair  check  to  any  attack  from  the  Danes  in  Essex.  99^1^37 
But  at  the  point  where  the  boundary  of  the  Dane-  — 
law  struck  to  the  northwest  from  the  Lea,  across  the 
bare  uplands  of  the  Chilterns,  the  way  lay  open  to 
an  inroad,  and  it  was  to  guard  this  open  ground 
that  Eadward  seized  the  ford  over  the  Lea,  first  by 
a  fort  or  stockaded  mound  on  the  northern  side  of 
the  river,  between  the  little  streams  of  the  Maran 
and  the  Beane,  and  then  by  a  like  fort  on  the  south- 
ern bank,  two  "  burhs,"  which  have  since  grown  into 
our  Hertford.'  The  bend  of  its  present  shire-line 
eastward  along  the  upper  course  of  the  Stort,  and  so 
round  by  the  crest  of  the  Chilterns,  may  represent 
the  land  which  Eadward  took  across  the  line  fixed 
by  the  frith  to  form  a  district  for  his  new  fortress ; 
but  its  seizure  was  not  the  only  sign  of  a  break  with 
East  Anglia.  Essex,  shorn  as  it  was  of  its  western 
half  along  the  Thames  and  the  Chilterns,  still  re- 
mained a  part  of  Guthrum's  kingdom;  but  Ead- 
ward now  proceeded  to  shear  away  a  fresh  por- 
tion of  it  by  entering  its  southern  districts  with  an 
army,  and  taking  post  at  Maldon  on  the  Blackwater, 
while  his  men  reared  a  "  burh  "  a  little  inland,  at 
Witham. 

With  the  erection  of  this  fortress  the  Danes  v^Qve  ^iheifad 
thrown  back  on  the  valley  of  the  Colne,  and  cut  off  watiing 
from  all  access  to  the  mouths  of  the  Thames  or  the    *^^''^^''* 
Blackwater,  while  southern  Essex  passed  into  Eng- 

»  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  913. 


IQO       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND, 

ciiAP.v.  lish  hands.  The  line  of  Guthrum's  Frith  was  now, 
The  therefore,  abandoned,  and  Eadward's  frontier  led 
iEifred.  from  the  sea  along  the  valley  of  the  Chelm,  straight 
90^937.  westward  to  Hertford,  and  thence  along  the  brink  of 
the  Thames  valley.  For  the  next  four  years,  how- 
ever, the  king  made  no  further  advance,  though  he 
was  doubtless  busy  throughout  them  in  organizing 
his  later  campaigns  and  in  aiding  the  more  active 
enterprise  of  his  sister.  While  ^thelflaed  strength- 
ened her  western  frontier  against  any  inroad  from 
the  Welsh  by  the  erection  of  forts  at  Scargate  and 
Bridgenorth,*  she  barred  any  further  raids  of  the 
Danes  upon  Mercia  by  firmly  establishing  herself  on 
the  flank  of  the  Danelaw,  and  seizing  the  line  of  the 
Watling  Street.  None  of  the  roads  that  traversed 
Roman  Britain  have  remained  so  famous  as  this 
great  line  of  communication.  It  stretched  from 
London  over  the  chalk  downs  of  Hertfordshire 
through  a  lonely  and  thickly  wooded  country  to  Ver- 
ulamium,  and,  descending  into  the  low  clay-lands  of 
the  Ouse  at  Dunstable,  again  mounted  the  North- 
amptonshire slopes  at  Stony  Stratford  to  pass  over 
the  clearer  tract  beyond  Towcester  into  the  basin  of 
the  Trent.  From  the  moment  that  it  stooped  to  the 
lower  ground  of  central  Britain  its  course  was  dic- 
tated by  the  woodland  of  Arden.  It  ran  closely 
along  the  edge  of  this  great  forest,  by  the  bounds  of 
our  Leicestershire,  and,  bending  round  its  northern 
skirt  to  pass  through  the  narrow  gap  of  open  coun- 
try which  parted  Arden  from  Cannock  Chase,  struck 

*  E.  Chron,  a.  912.  This  entry,  however,  is  only  preserved  in  two 
chronicles,  Earle's  B  and  C,  the  older  Cott.  Tib.  A,  vi.  and  B,  i.,  both 
of  Worcester  origin. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       j^j 

over  the  central  water-shed  of  Britain  to  Wroxeter,  chap.  v. 
in  the  Severn  valley.     From  this  point  its  line  seems     The 
originally  to  have  been  prolonged  to  the  Welsh  coast  ^ullt 
near  Anglesea ;  but  the  size  and  importance  of  Ches-  90^1^37 
ter  under  the  Roman  occupation  show  that  a  branch      — 
road  from  Wroxeter  to   that  city  must  soon  have 
come  into  existence,  and  along  this  branch  road  the 
main  stream  of  traffic,  both  to  Wales  and  to  north- 
western Britain,  was  from  that  time  directed/     As 
the  English  conquerors  crossed  its  course,  however, 
the  track  must  have  sunk  for  a  while  into  disuse  and 
silence.     But  the  strangers  were  awed  by  the  long 
line  that  they  met  so  often  in  their  progress,  and 
which  their  fancy  associated  with  the  Milky  Way, 
whose  white  line  of  stars  was  thrown  athwart  the 
sky  as  the  white  line  of  the  road  was  thrown  athwart 
Britain.     In  their  after-legend  it  became  "the  road 
that  King  Waetla's  sons  made  over  England  from 
the  eastern  sea  to  the  sea  in  the  west ;"  and  the 
memory  of  this  long-lost  myth  lingers  in  its  later 
name  of  the  Watling  Street." 

*  For  Wall ing  Street  see  Guest,  Origines  Celticae,  ii.  218  ei  seq. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  the  road  from  Dover  to  London  can  claim 
the  name, 

*  The  name  is,  at  any  rate,  as  old  as  Alfred  and  Guthrum's  Frith 
in  897.  Their  boundary  ran  from  Bedford  "  upwards  on  the  Ouse 
unto  Watling  Street."— Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  153.  Flor.  Wore.  a. 
1013,  explains  the  name,  "  id  est,  strata  quam  filii  Waetlae  regis  ab 
orientale  mare  usque  ad  occidentale  per  Angliam  straverunt." 
Chaucer,  in  his  "  House  of  Fame,"  says  : 

"  So  there,  quoth  he,  cast  up  thine  eye, 
See  yonder,  lo,  the  galaxie, 
The  which  men  clept  the  Milky  Way, 
For  it  is  white,  and  some — par  fay — 
Y-callin  it  han  Watlinge  Street." 


ig2  THE   CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

ciiAP.v.       While  Eadward  was  guarding  his  flank  against 
The      the  East  Engle,  ^thelflaed  wrought  a  Hke  work  for 

Alfred'  Mercia  by  the  fortification  of  two  burhs  which  com- 

90^937.  iTianded  this  road.'     The  first  was  Tamworth,  whose 
—     site  marked  the  point  where  the  new  and  direct  Hne 

'  a;td  to  Chester  diverged  from  the  older  Watling  Street. 
^w^^  '  j^  j.jgg  q£  gj-ound  (now  known  as  the  Castle  Hill) 
breaks  the  swampy  levels  at  the  junction  of  the  An- 
ker with  the  Tame ;  and  a  vill  of  the  Mercian  kings 
had  been  established  here  at  an  early  time,  which, 
with  the  little  "  worth  "  that  grew  up  about  it,  com- 
manded what  was  then  the  only  practicable  passage 
over  either  river  to  the  plains  of  the  Trent.  On  this 
rise  i^thelfla^d  threw  up  a  huge  mound,  crowned 
with  a  fortress,  portions  of  whose  brickwork  may 
still  be  seen  as  one  zig-zags  up  the  steep  ascent. 
From  Tamworth,  however,  she  soon  turned  to  a  yet 
more  important  point.  As  the  road  struck  to  the 
northeast,  it  entered  a  narrow  pass  between  the 
heights  of  Cannock  Chase  and  the  channel  of  the 
Trent,  across  which  ran  the  little  stream  of  the  Sow, 
on  its  way  to  the  greater  river.  The  road  crossed 
this  stream  at  a  "  stone  ford,"  or  paved  point  of  pas- 
sage; and  in  guarding  this  point  by  the  fortress 
which  has  grown  into  our  Stafford,'  ^thelflaed  not 
only  blocked  all  access  to  the  upper  Trent,  but  occu- 
pied what,  in  the  physical  state  of  England  at  the 
time,  was  the  most  important  strategical  point  of 
middle  Britain." 

Dr.  Guest,  however,  prefers,  I  cannot  see  why,  a  derivation  from 
"  gwyddel,"  the  "  broken  men  "  or  robbers  in  the  woods  along  its 
course. — Orig.  Celt.  ii.  234,  235. 

»  E.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  913.  « Ibid. 

=•  Its  importance  was  recognized  by  the  two  successive  castles 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       jg^ 

To  the  north  of  Arden  the  Mercian  border  was  chap.  v. 
now  fairly  secure.     Chester  blocked  all  passage  over     Th^ 
the  Dee ;  Stafford,  all  passage  along  the  Trent  val-   mutJl. 
ley ;   Tamworth,  any  march  along  the  older  line  of  90^1^37 
Watling  Street  on  the  upper  Severn.     But  to  the^  — 
south  of  the  great  forest  Mercia  still  remained  acces-    out/i^ 
sible  by  the  Fosse  Road.     The  Fosse  Way  was  one  ^''■'^' ^''•^* 
of  the  two  great  lines  of  communication  which  ran 
athwart  Britain   from   the  northeast  to  the  south- 
west.    Its  course  was  roughly  parallel  to  that  of  its 
fellow-road,  the  Icknield  Way/  and  it  closely  resem- 
bled it  in  character.    As  the  Icknield  Way  ran  along 
the  face  of  the  chalk  range,  from  the  Gwent  of  East 
Anglia  to  the  Gwent  about  Old  Sarum,  so  the  Fosse 
Way  ran  from  Lincoln  to  Bath  along  the  face  of  the 
oolitic  range  which  stretched  across  midland  Britain 
from  the  estuary  of  the  Severn  to  the  estuary  of  the 
Humber.'    Its  course  thus  led  direct  from  Leicester 
into  the  valley  of  the  Avon,  and  by  the  Avon  valley 
to  the  lower  Severn  and  South  Wales.     It  was  to 
block  this  road  and  secure  central  Mercia  that  ^thel- 
flasd  turned  as  soon  as  she  had  ended  her  work  on 
the  Watling  Street.'     After  erecting  a  fortress  at 
Eddisbury,  she  chose  as  her  main  barrier  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Waerings,  on  a  little  rise  near  the  slug- 
gish waters  of  the   Avon,  about  midway  along  its 
course,  and  here  she  fortified  the  burh  which  has 
grown  into  our  Waeringawic,  or  Warwick.     For  the 

which  the  Conqueror  built  here,  one  in  the  town  itself,  the  other  on 
a  more  distant  height. — Freeman,  Norm.  Conq.  iv.  318. 

*  See  Making  of  England,  p.  121. 

^  For  the  Fosse  Way,  see  Guest,  "  Four  Roman  Ways,"  Orig.  Celt, 
ii.  236,  237. 

'  E.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  914. 

13 


901-937. 


194       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  defence  of  this  settlement  she  reared'  between  town 
The     and  river  one  of  those  mounds  which  marked  the 

^Sed'  defensive  w^arfare  of  the  time,  and  which,  stripped  as 
it  is  of  every  trace  of  the  fortress  with  which  she 
crowned  it,  and  covered  with  works  of  far  later  date, 
still  remains  to  witness  to  the  energy  of  the  lady  of 
Mercia. 
EadiuarcTs     But,  though  the  Hncs  of  Trent  and  Avon  were 

tTitTMid-  alike  secure,  and  the  roads  to  Wales  on  either  side 

Britain.  q£  Ardcu  wholly  in  her  hands,  ^thelflasd's  caution 
was  not  yet  satisfied,  and  two  years  more  were  spent 
in  setting  up  burhs  at  Cherbury,  Warbury,  and 
Runcorn,"  at  the  confluence  of  the  Weaver  and  the 
Dee.  Meanwhile,  in  southern  Britain  the  long- 
delayed  contest  became  more  and  more  imminent. 
The  king's  course  was  still  a  slow  and  cautious  one. 
He  had  cleared  his  eastern  flank  by  the  conquest  of 
southern  Essex,  and  secured  his  border-line  in  that 
quarter  by  the  burhs  at  Witham  and  Hertford. 
But  his  warfare  in  the  east  had  probably  ended  in  a 
new  frith  with  the  East  Anglians ;  for  after  a  rest  of 
four  years  we  find  his  advance  directed  not  against 
East  Anglia,  but  against  the  Danes  of  Mid-Britain, 
or  the  Five  Boroughs.  The  nearest  of  their  settle- 
ments lay  just  northward  of  the  valley  of  the  Thames, 
in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Ouse.  Here,  in  earlier 
days,  the  house  of  the  Bokings  had  planted  their 
"ham"  of  Buckingham  on  the  little  stream;  and 
since  the  making  of  the  Danelaw  this  "  ham  "  had 
been  the  southernmost  of  the  Danish  settlements  in 
Mid-Britain  ;  with  Bedford  and  Huntingdon,  in  fact, 

'  "In  fine  autumni." — Flor.  Wore.  i.  123. 
'  E.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  915. 


THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  jgr 

it  formed  a  line  of  towns,  each  with   its  jarl  and  chap.  v. 
army,  which  held  the  valley  of  the  Ouse.     It  was  in     The 
the  hands  of  Jarl  Thurcytel  "  and  his  holds  "  when,  ^MUrlf. 
in  918,  Ead ward  marched  to  attack  it.     A  siege  of  qq^^^ 
four  weeks  made  him  its  master;'  and  here, as  else-     — 
where,  he  built  burhs  on  either  side  the  river  to 
guard  its  passage,  as  well  as  to  bar  any  raid  upon 
the  valley  of  the  Thames.    The  capture  of  the  town, 
however,  was  followed  by  the  submission  of  its  jarl 
and  its  holds;   and  the  severity  of  the  blow  was 
shown  by  a  like  submission  of  "  almost  all  the  chief 
men  that  belonged  to  Bedford,  and  also  many  that 
belonged  to  Northampton." 

Their  submission  drew  the  king  onward,  both  to  Conquest 
the  eastward  and  to  the  north.  In  919  he  marched  Britain. 
along  the  Ouse  through  the  flat  meadows  of  Olney 
upon  Bedford,"  which  offered  no  resistance,  and 
which  he  guarded  by  a  burh  on  the  southern  bank 
of  the  stream.  Two  years  later,  in  921,  he  pushed 
forward  on  to  the  upland  of  Mid-Britain,  and  seized 
and  fortified  the  site  of  the  ruined  Towcester. 
Meanwhile,  he  was  providing,  with  his  old  caution 
against  danger,  at  either  end  of  his  long  line,  by 
erecting  fresh  fortresses  at  Maldon  in  Essex,  and  at 
Wigmore  in  our  Herefordshire.  But,  cautious  as  his 
advance  had  been,  its  real  import  could  no  longer 
be  disguised,  and  the  seizure  of  Towcester  roused 
the  Danes  of  Mid -Britain  into  action.  Not  only 
the  Danes  of  Northampton  and  of  Leicester,  but  the 
whole  force  of  the  Five  Boroughs  made  a  fierce  on- 
set on  the  burh  at  Towcester.      Fierce  as  it  was, 

»  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  918. 
"  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  919. 


901-937. 


1^5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.v.  however,  it  was  beaten  off  by  the  new  townsmen. 
The      Eadward  hastened  to  secure  the  town,  which  must 

Alfred.*  have  been  guarded  as  yet  only  by  a  trench  and 
stockade, with  a  wall  of  stone;'  and  the  presence  of 
his  arms  brought  about  the  submission  of  North- 
ampton, with  Jarl  Thurfrith  and  its  host,  as  well  as 
the  district  which  obeyed  it,  a  district  which  stretched 
as  far  as  the  Welland. 

Conquest      But,  whilc  the  king  was  thus  pressing  on  the  Five 

"AiigHa.  Boroughs,  a  far  fiercer  conflict  was  raging  on  his 
flank.  The  Danes  of  East  Anglia  had  sprung  to 
arms  even  before  their  fellow  Danes  in  central  Brit- 
ain ;  and  in  this  quarter  fighting  had  been  going  on 
through  the  whole  year.  Early  in  the  spring  the 
Danes  of  Huntingdon  threw  themselves  fruitlessly 
on  the  new  burh  at  Bedford ;  and  then,  quitting 
Huntingdon,  set  up  a  fresh  encampment  at  Temps- 
ford,  where  they  were  soon  attacked  by  the  English 
fyrd  of  the  neighboring  districts.  The  capture  of 
Tempsford,  with  its  king,  jarls,"  and  warriors,  gave 
fresh  heart  to  the  assailants ;  and  a  force  of  English- 
men drew  together  from  Kent,  Surrey,  and  Essex 
for  the  siege  of  Colchester.  Their  success  was  again 
complete ;  the  town  was  stormed,  and  its  defenders 
slain ;  while  a  counter-raid  of  the  Danes  upon  Mal- 
don  ended  in  the  utter  rout  of  the  pirates.  It  was 
at  this  moment  that  the  completion  of  the  walls  of 
Towcester  and  the  submission  of  Northampton  set 
Eadward  free  to  act  in  the  east.  His  first  blow  was 
at  the  district  about  the  Fens.  A  few  miles'  march 
over  the  flat  Ouse  country  brought  him  to  the  spot 

*  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  921. 
'  Toglos  and  Manna. — Ibid. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       j^y 

where  the  English  village  of  Godmanchester  was  char  v. 
rising  by  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  Durolipons  on  the  The 
road  that  skirted  the  Wash.  On  a  rise  across  the  mbed. 
river  which  was  then  the  "  Hunters-down,"  stood  the  901I937. 
fortress  which  the  owners  had  so  lately  abandoned 
— a  fortress  of  importance  as  commanding  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Ouse — whose  site,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
burh  with  which  Eadward  replaced  it,  are  still  marked 
by  the  mounds  which  rise  over  the  river/  Master  of 
the  whole  Ouse  valley,  a  fresh  march  of  the  king  to 
Colchester,  and  his  rebuilding  of  the  town,  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  sudden  submission  of  all  the  Danes  of 
East  Anglia  and  Essex,  as  well  as  of  the  here  which 
found  its  centre  at  Cambridge ;  and  no  part  of  the 
Fen  country  remained  to  the  Danelaw  save  the 
northern  tract  about  Stamford.  The  town  stood  on 
a  stone  ford  over  the  Welland,  and  was  one  of  the 
Five  Boroughs,  with  its  twelve  lawmen  and  Danish 
burghers  and  common  land  beyond  the  walls.  But 
it  submitted  when  the  king  and  his  fyrd  marched  on 
it  in  922  ;  and  its  obedience  was  secured  by  a  mound 
and  fort  which  Eadward  raised  over  against  it  on 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  .river,  in  what  became  a 
southern  burh  of  lesser  size.' 

What  had  made  the  king's  triumph  in  Mid-Britain  "^^j^'J/lf 
so  easy  and  complete  was,  to  a  great  extent,  no  doubt,  t/ie  Five 
the  energy  of  his  sister  in  the  west.    While  the  Eng-    ^''^"^  ^' 
lish  shire-levies  cleared  East  Anglia  on  one  flank 
of  his  advance,  i^thelflasd  was  mastering  the  Five 
Boroughs  on  the  other.     The  march  of  Eadward  on 
Northampton  had,  in  fact,  been  made  possible  by  the 

'  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  921. 
'  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  922. 


igS  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  triumphs  of  the  Mercian  host  in  the  valley  of  the 
The      Trent.     As  the  river  curves  from  the  heights  of  Can- 

^mred.  nock  Chase  to  the  eastward,  it  receives  the  water  of 

90^937  *^^  important  affluents  from  the  north  and  south. 
—  The  Derwent  flows  down  to  it  from  the  crags  of  the 
Peak,  while  the  Soar  wanders  to  it  through  the  grassy 
levels  of  our  Leicestershire.  On  one  of  these  rivers 
the  earlier  English  conquerors  had  planted  their 
settlement  of  North-weorthig,  w^hose  position  in  the 
waste  among  the  wild  animals  of  the  chase  was 
marked  by  the  new  name  it  had  received  from  the 
Danes,  the  name  of  Deora-by,  or  Derby/  Under 
the  Danes  the  place  became  one  of  the  Five  Bor- 
oughs round  which  the  Danelaw  of  Mid- Britain 
grouped  itself,  and  it  was  the  first  of  the  five  to  bear 
yEthelflaed's  attack.  In  the  August  of  917  it  passed 
into  her  hands,"*  and  in  918  she  marched  up  the  val- 
ley on  her  other  flank,  that  of  the  Soar,  to  attack  the 
second  of  the  Five  Boroughs,  Leicester.  Again  her 
attack  was  successful,  and  within  the  w^alls  of  her 
own  conquest  she  is  said  to  have  heard  of  the  sub- 
mission of  York.' 
Miif-         The  news  of  this  last  triumph,  however,  had  hard- 

c^nqiTerciiy^  rcachcd  Eadward  when  it  was  followed  by  the 
news  of  ^thelflaed's  death.*  But  the  blow  came 
too  late  to  save  the  Danelaw.  Only  two  of  the  Five 
Boroughs,  indeed,  now  remained  unconquered ;  and 

»  ^thelweard,  a.  870,  lib.  iv.  c.  2. 

'  E.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  917. 

=•  E.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  918,  says  of  the  Yorkmen  :  "  Some  gave  her 
pledge,  some  bound  themselves  with  oath,  that  they  would  be  at  her 
reding"  (command). 

*  Eadward  was  at  Stamford  at  this  time.  E.  Chron,  (Winch.), 
a.  922. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       i^g 


Eadward's  siege  of  the  first  of  these,  Nottingham,  chap,  v. 
completed  the  work  of  the  year.     The  town  stood     The 
on  the  bend  of  the  Trent,  a  few  miles  eastward  of   mhel 
the  confluence  of  the  Derwent  and  the  Soar.     It  C01I937. 
was  here  that  the  road  from  the  south  crossed  the     — 
great  river,  for  further  along  its  course  the  marshes 
of  Axholme  hindered  all  passage ;  and  the  impor- 
tance of  the  place  had  been  shown  at  the  very  out- 
set of  the  Danish  wars,  when  its  seizure  by  the 
pirates  foiled  the  efforts  of  ^thelred  and  Alfred 
to  save  the  north  from  their  grasp.     In  size  and 
wealth  it  was  probably,  with  Lincoln,  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  Five  Boroughs,  while  as  a  strategical 
point  it  was  more  important  than  any;  for  it  com- 
manded the  navigation  of  the  Trent,  while  it  was 
the  key  alike  of  Northumbria  and  central  Britain. 
The  closing  of  Eadward's  forces  upon  Nottingham' 
in  922  was  thus  the  crisis  of  the  war.     The  town 
yielded,  and  was  secured,  for  the  while,  by  a  fortress 
on  the  southern  bank  of  the  river;  while  the  king 
reaped  the  fruits  of  his  success  in  the  submission  of 
the  whole  Mercian  Danelaw,  for  Lincoln,  whose  fate 
is  not  mentioned,  no  doubt  submitted  on  the  fall  of 
Nottingham. 

With  the  clearing  of  the  Trent  valley  the  con-  Theprin^ 
quest   of    Mid  -  Britain   was   complete.     Guthrum's  personal 
kingdom  and  the  Five  Boroughs  had  alike  bowed  "^  ^^'^^*^'^^- 
to  Eadward's  sword.     But  the  work  of  conquest  was 
far  from  being  the  only  work  of  Eadward  during 
these  memorable  years.     It  is,  indeed,  the  adminis- 
trative reconstruction  which  went  hand  in  hand  with 

*  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  922. 


200       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  the  king's  campaign  that  accounts  for  the  slowness 
The  and  caution  of  his  advance.  How  firmly  he  cluns^ 
jEifred.  to  the  idea  which  his  title  of  "  King  of  the  Anglo- 
90^937.  Saxons  "  embodies,  the  idea  of  a  single  people  ruled 
directly  by  a  single  king,  was  shown  in  his  dealing 
with  the  Mercian  ealdormanry.  On  the  death  of 
^thelflaed  the  last  traces  of  Mercian  independence 
were  suppressed ;  the  girl  whom  his  sister  had  left 
behind  her  was  sent  to  a  nunnery;  and  the  king- 
dom, with  its  Welsh  dependencies,  brought  under 
Eadward's  direct  government.'  The  districts  of  the 
conquered  Danelaw  were  in  the  same  way  brought 
into  the  general  realm ;  but  they  were  brought  into 
it  in  a  very  different  way  from  Mercia.  The  condi- 
tions of  the  struggle,  indeed,  were  giving  a  wholly 
new  character  to  the  relations  of  the  people  towards 
its  rulers.  The  war  had  violently  hastened  forward 
a  revolution  w^hich  had  long  been  silently  changing 
the  whole  structure  of  English  society.  Even  at  the 
time  of  their  first  settlement  in  Britain  the  invaders 
had  passed  beyond  the  stage  of  merely  personal 
right — the  stage  in  which  freedom,  law,  and  govern- 
ment are  regarded  as  inherent  in  the  freeman  him- 
self, and  in  which  a  share  in  the  common  land  of  the 
tribe  falls  to  the  share  of  the  freeman  because  he  is 
free.  Though  traces  of  this  older  personal  bond  re- 
mained in  the  gathering  of  the  kin  in  their  separate 
villages,  as  in  the  allotment  of  the  soil  to  the  heads 
of  families,  yet  land  had  even  then  become  the  insep- 

'  "And  all  the  people  of  the  land  of  Mercia  .  .  .  submitted  to  him ; 
and  the  kings  of  the  North  Welsh,  Howel  and  Cledauc  and  Jeoth- 
wel  and  all  the  North-Welsh  people  sought  him  to  be  their  lord." 
— E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  922. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  2OI 

arable  accompaniment  of  the  freeman,  the  badge  and  chap.  v. 
test  of  his  freedom:  he  was  a  freeman  because  he  The 
was  a  land-owner.'  But  it  was  long  before  the  rela-  mhed. 
tion  of  the  freeman  to  the  land  wholly  obliterated  go^I^g^ 
the  older  conception  of  personal  freedom.  In  ear-  — 
Her  English  history  the  small  holder  and  the  big 
holder  stood  equal  in  law-moot  or  in  witenagemote, 
and  even  the  landless  man  might  choose  what  lord 
he  would.  But  at  the  close  of  the  Danish  wars  we 
find  a  new  organization  of  the  people  almost  com- 
plete. The  tendency  towards  personal  dependence, 
and  towards  a  social  organization  based  on  personal 
dependence,  had  received  an  overpowering  impulse 
from  the  strife.  The  long  insecurity  of  a  century 
of  warfare  had  driven  the  ceorl,  the  free  tiller  of  the 
soil,  to  seek  protection  more  and  more  from  the 
wealthier  land -owner  or  thegn  beside  him.  The 
poorer  freeman  "commended"  himself  to  a  lord 
who  promised  aid ;  and  as  the  price  of  this  aid  sur- 
rendered his  freehold,  to  receive  it  back  as  a  fief 
laden  with  condition  of  military  service.  Hence- 
forth his  lord  owns  the  land  he  tills ;  he  is  his  leader 
to  the  host;  he  is  the  lord  of  the  court  at  which 
he  seeks  for  justice.  The  military,  the  judicial,  the 
political  organization  of  the  people  had  thus  become 
inseparably  linked  to  the  ownership  of  land.'  . 

How  quickly  the  principle  of  personal  allegiance  nsinjin- 
to  a  lord  of  land  widened  into  a  general  theory  of  " English 
dependence  we  see  from  the  changes  it  brought  ^'"'s^^'-'P- 
about  in  the  English  kingship.     Whatever  bonds 
of  the  older  tribal  sort  might  link  the  children  of 

'  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  194. 
»  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  217-222. 


901-937. 


202  THE   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  Alfred  to  the  men  of  their  own  Wessex,  it  was  only 
The     as  possessors  of  the  soil,  as  lords  of  the  land,  that 

-ffiifred!  they  could  claim  the  obedience  of  Mercian  or  North- 
umbrian. To  the  tribal  character  of  the  kingship, 
which  blended  the  king  with  those  whom  he  ruled, 
was  thus  added  a  territorial  character  in  which  he 
stood  wholly  apart  from  them,  and  in  which  the  rela- 
tion was  no  longer  one  of  traditional  loyalty,  but  of 
actual  subjection.  Still  more  was  this  the  case  with 
the  conquered  Dane.  No  tie  of  traditional  loyalty 
bound  the  northern  settler  on  the  Ouse  or  the  Trent 
to  the  kings  who  had  struck  him  down.  The  only 
possible  tie  could  be  that  of  acknowledging  the  new 
master  as  a  lord,  and  claiming  his  "  peace  "  or  pro- 
tection in  exchange  for  allegiance.  It  is  thus  that 
the  conquest  of  the  Danelaw  was  followed  by  the 
earliest  instances  of  those  oaths  of  allegiance  which 
mark  the  substitution  of  a  personal  dependence  on 
the  king  as  lord  for  the  older  relation  of  the  freeman 
to  the  king  of  his  race. 

The  oaih  Eadward  had  already  proposed  to  the  witan  of  his 
allegiance,  owu  Wcsscx,'  that  for  the  maintenance  of  the  public 
peace  they  should  "  be  in  that  fellowship  in  which  the 
king  was,  and  love  that  which  he  loved,  and  shun  that 
which  he  shunned,  both  on  sea  and  land ;"  and  this 
principle  of  personal  allegiance  he  applied  to  his  new 
conquests.  As  he  pushed  over  the  country,  the  Dan- 
ish hosts  who  yielded  to  him  swore  to  hold  him  for 
their  lord,  to  be  one  with  him,  to  will  all  that  he 
willed,  to  keep  peace  with  all  in  his  peace.  At  Buck- 
ingham, Jarl  Thurcytel  "sought  to  him  to  be  his 

'  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  163. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       203 

lord,  and  all  the  holds,  and  almost  all  the  chief  men  char  v. 
who  owed  obedience  to  Bedford."  Farther  north, 
"Thurferth  the  Jarl  and  the  captains  and  all  the 
army  which  owed  obedience  to  Northampton  as  far  90^1^37, 
north  as  the  Welland  .  .  .  sought  him  to  be  their  lord  — 
and  protector."  At  Huntingdon,  all  who  were  left 
of  the  Danes  "sought  his  peace  and  protection." 
Finally,  "all  the  army  among  the  East  Anglians 
swore  union  with  him  that  they  would  do  all  he 
would,  and  would  observe  peace  towards  all  to  which 
the  king  should  grant  peace,  both  by  sea  and  land ; 
and  the  army  which  owed  obedience  to  Cambridge 
chose  him  specially  to  be  their  lord  and  protector, 
and  confirmed  it  with  oaths,  even  as  he  then  decreed 
it."*  In  this  way  no  change  was  made  in  the  actual 
organization  of  the  country  within  the  Danelaw. 
Its  jarls,  its  holds,  were  left  gathered  round  their 
towns  as  before.  But  they  had  taken  Eadward  for 
their  lord,  and  bound  themselves  by  a  bond  of  alle- 
giance to  him.  As  the  English  could  not  be  less 
closely  connected  with  their  king  than  the  Danes, 
such  an  allegiance  soon  spread  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  Danelaw,  and  became  the  bond  of  the  nation  at 
large.  In  Eadmund's  day  all  men  swore  to  be  faith- 
ful to  the  king  as  a  man  is  faithful  to  his  lord,  loving 
what  he  loves,  and  shunning  what  he  shuns.""  The 
king  has,  in  fact,  become  the  lord ;  the  freeman  has 
become  the  king's  man ;  the  public  peace,  or  observ- 
ance of  the  customary  right  by  man  towards  man, 
has  become  the  king's  peace,  the  observance  of  which 


^  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  918,  921. 
'  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  252. 


and 

north. 


204  THE   CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAR  V.  is  (^ue  to  the  will  of  the  lord,  and  the  breach  of  which 

The  is  a  personal  offence  against  him. 
iEifred.  The  caution  of  Eadward,  however,  in  his  advance 
901I937.  over  the  Danelaw,  was  dictated  not  only  by  these 
E^uard  administrative  difficulties,  but  by  a  sense  of  the  mili- 
'the  tary  difficulties  of  his  task.  Fight  his  way  onward 
as  he  might,  and  firmly  as  he  secured  every  step  in 
his  path  by  mound  and  burh,  he  knew  that  the 
Danes  of  Mid-Britain  were  still  far  from  being  defi- 
nitely conquered.  After  all  the  triumphs  of  Ead- 
ward and  of  his  son,  we  shall  see  the  Five  Boroughs 
break  out  in  a  fierce  revolt  against  their  successor, 
and  for  a  while  drive  the  West  Saxons  back  over 
the  Watling  Street.  With  the  existing  military  sys- 
tem, in  fact,  it  was  impossible  to  bridle  the  Danes  by 
efficient  garrisons,  while  to  bring  them  to  a  content- 
ed acquiescence  in  English  rule  was  necessarily  a 
work  of  time.  We  can  hardly  doubt  that  it  was  a 
sense  of  this  danger  in  his  rear,  as  well  as  of  the  for- 
midable nature  of  the  work  to  be  done  in  the  north, 
which  made  Eadward  halt  for  a  while  at  the  Trent. 
Instead  of  a  direct  march  on  Northumbria  he  turned 
to  a  distant  line  of  operations,  whose  aim  seemed 
rather  that  of  defence  than  of  attack.  From  any 
direct  onset  of  the  Northumbrian  Danes  on  his  front 
the  king  was  nearly  secure.  The  fortresses  at  Not- 
tingham and  Stafford,  with  the  other  burhs  on  their 
flank  and  rear,  made  a  passage  of  the  Trent  difficult, 
if  not  impossible.  But  on  his  northwestern  flank 
the  king  felt  more  open  to  attack.  Not  only  might 
the  Danes  of  Northumbria  break  over  the  western 
moors  by  the  old  Roman  road  from  York  to  the 
Ribble,  to  tall  the  North  Welsh  to  arms,  but  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


205 


Ostmen  from  Ireland  might,  by  a  short  march  across  chap.  v. 
the  same  wild  tract,  bring  aid  to  their  brethren  in     The 
Northumbria.     It  was,  indeed,  this  constant  succor   jEifred' 
from  Ireland  which  made  the  after-conquest  of  the  goil^Y 
northern  Danelaw  so  long  and  arduous  a  task :  and     — 
we  can  hardly  doubt  that  it  was  a  sense  of  the  need 
of  isolating  Northumbria  from  both  Welshmen  and 
Ostmen,  ere  he  could  safely  attack  it,  which  guided 
the  work  of  Eadward  in  the  northwest. 

In  seizins:  the  estuaries  of  the  Dee  and  the  Mer-  ^  ^'-^ 

«->  jortresses 

sey  by  her  burhs  at  Chester  and  Runcorn,  ^thel-  in  the 
flaed  had  closed  the  natural  landing-places  by  which 
the  Ostmen  could  make  their  way  to  York ;  but  the 
king  aimed  at  barring  their  path  by  fortresses  which 
commanded  every  road  across  the  moors.  While, 
with  his  own  host,  therefore,  he  set  about  the  build- 
ing of  a  town  at  Thelwall  in  923,  he  sent  a  Mercian 
force  to  occupy  the  old  Roman  town  of  Mancunium. 
To  the  north  of  the  estuary  of  the  Mersey  a  trian- 
gular mass  of  hill  and  moorland  juts  out  from  the 
Pennine  range  towards  the  sea,  a  tract  whose  slopes 
and  stream-valleys  are  now  the  homes  of  a  mighty 
industry,  but  which  then  was  silent  and  desolate.' 
On  the  southern  side  of  this  tract  its  waters  gath- 
ered together  at  a  point  where  the  road  over  the 
moors  from  Eboracum  came  down  upon  the  plain; 
and  at  this  point  had  grown  up,  under  the  Roman 
occupation,  the  town  of  Mancunium.  Since  ^thel- 
frith's  day  the  town  had  doubtless  lain  in  ruin ;  but 
life  was  probably  already  flowing  back  to  a  site 
marked  out  for  the  dwelling  of  man,  when  in  923 

'  It  still  formed  part  of  Northumbria.     E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  923. 
"  Manchester  in  Northumbria." 


2o6       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. V.  Eadward  renewed  and  "manned  "  the  walls  of  Man- 
The     Chester.'     In  the  following  year  he  linked  these  out- 

iEifred.   lying  strongholds  with  his  general  line,  by  a  burh  at 

90^937.  Bakewell,  on  the  upper  Derwent  among  the  hills  of 
the  Peak,  a  point  about  midway  between  Manches- 
ter and  the  new  English  conquest  of  Derby,  while 
he  strengthened  the  key  of  his  position  on  the  Trent 
by  throwing  a  bridge  over  the  river  at  Nottingham, 
and  securing  it  by  a  second  mound  and  stockade  on 
the  southern  bank."* 

^td^the  Efficient  as  these  fortresses  were  for  purposes  of 
north,  defence,  they  were  as  efficient  for  purposes  of  attack ; 
for  from  Manchester,  or  Bakewell,  or  Nottingham 
alike  the  forces  of  Eadward  could  close  upon  York, 
whether  by  the  western  moors  or  through  the  fast- 
nesses of  the  Peak,  or  by  the  marshy  levels  along 
the  Don.  Eadward  seems,  in  fact,  to  have  been 
preparing  for  a  more  formidable  struggle  than  any 
he  had  as  yet  undertaken,  a  struggle  not  with  the 
Danes  of  Northumbria  only,  but  with  the  leagued 
peoples  of  all  northern  Britain.  His  victories  had 
wholly  changed  the  political  relations  w^hich  had  till 
now  existed  between  the  northern  states  of  Britain 
and  the  West-Saxon  kings.  During  yElfred's  days, 
as  through  the  earlier  days  of  his  son,  fear  of  the 
Danes  had  driven  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde,  with 
the  Bernicians  under  the  house  of  Eadwulf,  to  seek 
the  friendship,  if  not  the  aid,  of  the  house  of  Cerdic. 
The  same  fear  had  told  even  more  powerfully  on  the 
kingdom  of  the  Scots.  Pirate  raids  had  been  shat- 
tering the  Scot  realm  for  a  hundred  years,  when  in 

^  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  923. 
'  E.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  924. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


207 


-Alfred's  days'  a  Norse  earldom  was  set  up  in  the  chap.  v. 
Orkneys  and  became  the  base  for  a  more  systematic     The 
attack.     From  this  base  the  "  black  strangers  "  had  Sed!' 
ever  since  been  conquering  arid  colonizing  the  west-  90^1^37 
ern  Hebrides  and  winning  inch  by  inch  the  main-     — 
land."*     From  Caithness  and  the  tract  to  which  they 
have  left  their  name  of  "  Southern-land,"  or  Suther- 
land, they  pushed  over  Ross  and  Moray,  till,  under 
its  present  king,  Constantine,  the  Scot  kingdom  had 
practically  shrunk  to  little  more  than  the  basin  of 
the  Tay.     Pressed  between  the  Northmen  of  the 
Orkneys  and  the  Danes  of  the  Danelaw,  the  Scots, 
and  in  a  lesser  degree,  their  western  and  southern 
neighbors  in  Strathclyde  and  Bernicia,  looked  nat- 
urally with  friendship  to  the  power  in  the  south 
which  held  the  Danes  at  bay. 

But  with  the  triumphs  of  Eadward  and  his  sister.  Submission 
the  dread  of  the  Danes  was  lifted  from  these  north-  „Zthern 
ern  states ;  and  no  sooner  was  it  removed  than  it    ^^'^^"^' 
was  replaced  by  a  dread  of  the  West  Saxons  them- 
selves.    As  iEthelflasd  pushed  the  Danelaw  further 
from  the  Welsh  border,  we  see  Welsh  princes  aban- 
doning the  West-Saxon  alliance,  and  turning,  though 
unsuccessfully,  to  the  Dane.     And  at  this  moment 
the  approach  of  Eadward,  the  steady  closing  round  of 
his  West-Saxon  and  Mercian  hosts,  seems  to  have 
worked  as  complete  a  change  of  policy  in  the  north. 
In  the  gathering  of  924  we  catch  the  first  signs  of 
that  general  league  of  its  states  which  was  again  and 
again  to  front  the  West-Saxon  sovereigns,  till  it  was 
finally  broken  by  the  statesmanship  of   Eadmund. 

^  Soon  after  883.    Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  i.  344,  note. 
«  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  i.  341  et  seq. 


2o8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  While  Eadward  was  establishing  his  base  of  opera- 
The  tions  along  the  southwest  of  Northumbria,  the 
mfrel  Scot-king  Constantine,  with  the  princes  of  Stratlv 
90^937.  Clyde  and  the  lord  of  Bernicia,  seem  to  have 
gathered  to  the  aid  of  the  Northumbrians.  But  if 
this  were  so,  panic  must  have  broken  the  dream  of 
war,  for  we  know  only  of  this  gathering  by  the  sub- 
mission to  which  it  led.  Eadward  was  already  on 
his  march  by  the  route  which  led  through  the  hills 
of  the  Peak,  when  his  advance  was  arrested,  probably 
at  the  point  whose  significant  name  of  "  Dor "  or 
"  door  "  marked  the  pass  that  opened  from  them  on 
to  the  Northumbrian  border,  and  where  a  hundred 
years  before  the  north  had  submitted  to  Ecgberht. 
Instead  of  fighting,  the  motley  company  of  allies 
sought  Eadward  s  camp  among  the  hills  and  owned 
him  as  "  father  and  lord."  ' 

'  "And  him  chose  there  to  father  and  lord  the  Scot-king  and  all 
Scot-folk,  and  Regnald,  and  Eadulf's  son,  and  all  that  dwelt  in 
Northumbria,  whether  Englishmen  or  Danish  or  Northmen  or  oth- 
er, and  eke  the  King  of  the  Strathclyde  Welshmen,  and  all  Strath- 
clyde  Welshmen." — Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  924.  No  passage  has 
been  more  fiercely  fought  over  than  this,  since  the  legists  of  the 
English  court  made  it  the  groundwork  of  the  claims  which  the 
English  crown  advanced  on  the  allegiance  of  Scotland ;  and  it  has 
of  late  been  elaborately  discussed  by  Mr.  Robertson  on  the  one  side 
(Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  ii.  384)  and  Mr.  Freeman  on  the 
other  (Norm.  Conq.  i.  Appendix  G).  The  entry  cannot  be  contem- 
porary, for  Regnald,  whom  it  makes  king  in  Northumbria,  had  died 
three  years  before,  in  921  ;  nor  is  there,  indeed,  ground  for  placing 
the  compilation  of  this  section  of  the  Chronicle  of  Winchester 
earlier  than  975,  or  the  end  of  Eadgar's  reign,  some  fifty  years  after 
the  "  Commendation  "  (Earle,  Introd.  pp.  xix.-xxii.);  and  as  the  "  im- 
perial "  claims  of  the  English  crown  seem  to  date  pretty  much  from 
the  later  days  of  Eadgar  or  the  beginning  of  .^thelred's  reign,  an 
entry  made  at  that  time  would  naturally  take  its  form  from  them. 
I  cannot  see  any  difference  between  this  submission  of  the  league 
in  924,  and  the  subsequent  submissions  of  the  same  confederates 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  209 

The  triumph  over  the  northern  league  was  hardly  chap.  v. 
won  when,  in  the  opening  of  925,  Eadward  died  at     The 
Fearndun    in    Mercia/    and    his    son    ^Ethelstan  ^frld°' 
mounted    the    throne.""      After -tradition   preserved  90^1^7. 
lovingly  the  memory  of  ^^thelstan's  outer  aspect,     — 
of  his    slight   though   vigorous  frame,  and   of  his 
golden  hair.'     Nor  did  it  dwell  less  lovingly  on  the 
character  of  his  rule.     In  outer  greatness,  indeed,  in 
his  exploits  at  home  as  in  the  position  he  occupied 
in  the   European  world,  no  king   of  Cerdjc's  Hne 
could  vie  with  the  son  of  Eadward.     Nor  was  his 
temper  less  great.     The  sudden  failure  of  our  infor- 
mation leaves  his  reign  in  some  ways  darker  than 
those  of  his  predecessors ;  for  the  Chronicle  of  Win- 
chester breaks  down  into  meagre  annals  with  Ead- 
ward's  death,  and  from  brilliant  historic  light  we 
pass  suddenly  into  almost  utter  darkness.*     But  the 

after  their  later  outbreaks  against  ^thelstan,  which  are  clearly 
mere  episodes  in  the  struggle  for  supremacy  in  the  north. 

*  For  date,  see  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  925 ;  for  place,  Eng.  Chron. 
(Wore,  D.),  a.  924. 

'  In  the  Eng.  Chron.  of  Worcester  (or  Mercia),  we  are  carefully 
told  that  ^thelstan  was  "  chosen  king  by  the  Mercians,  and  hal- 
lowed at  Kingston."  The  entry  shows  how  stubbornly  the  Mercian 
kingdom  clung  to  its  separate  existence,  and  how  far  it  was  still 
from  regarding  itself  as  fused  in  a  single  England.  As  King  of  the 
West  Saxons,  .^thelstan  was  doubtless  chosen  and  hallowed  at 
Winchester. 

'  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  213.  See  also  the  tradition 
of  his  learning,  ibid.  p.  209. — (A.  S.  G.) 

*  From  925  to  975  is  the  most  meagre  section  of  the  Winchester 
Chronicle  ( Earle,  Par.  Chron.,  Introd.  pp.  xviii.-xxii.).  The  first 
twelve  annals  of  this  period  only  fill  as  many  lines ;  and  the  story 
becomes  even  more  jejune  as  it  proceeds,  till  in  Eadgar's  day  the 
historic  thread  is  almost  wholly  lost,  though  the  meagre  entries  are 
broken  by  four  great  pieces  of  verse.  For  ^thelstan's  reign  we  are 
a  little  helped  by  a  few  insertions  in  the  Worcester  copy  of  the 
Chronicle  ( Earle's  D).  Our  main  aid  is  from  William  of  Malmesbury, 

14 


2IO  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.V.  king's  acts  speak  for  themselves.     Through  a  reign 
The     of  fifteen  years  we  see  no  sign  of  weakness.     At 
^red!  home    ^thelstan    proved    himself    worthy   of    the 
90^937.  knightly  sword  with  which  Alfred  had  girded  him 
—     in  his  childhood :  he  was  a  great  soldier  and  a  firm 
ruler.     But  his  ability  found  a  wider  sphere  than  in 
his  own  island  realm.     His  temper,  indeed,  was  Eu- 
ropean rather  than  merely  English ;  and  in  his  for- 
eign policy  he  showed  a  breadth  of  conception,  a 
faculty    of    combination,   a    diplomatic    adroitness, 
which  was  new  in  the  history  of  our  kings.     From 
-^thelwulf  onwards  the  royal  house  of  Wessex  had 
drawn  closer  to  a  union  with  the  states  of  the  Con- 
tinent; but  ^thelstan  carried   out  this   tendency 
with  a  large  and   well -devised   scheme   of   policy 
which  bound  western  Europe  together  against  the 
common  enemy. 
^^Danef      ^^^^^^^  \i\'m,  at  the  very  outset  of  his  reign,  lay  the 
Scots,  and  difficulty  of  the  north.     Eadward's  plans  for  its  con- 

Welsh.  .      . 

quest  had  been  checked,  first,  by  the  submission  of 
its  chieftains  to  his  supremacy,  and  then  by  his 
death ;  and  the  reduction  of  this  remaining  half  of 
the  Danelaw  thus  fell  to  the  lot  of  his  son.  For 
the  moment  ^Ethelstan  seemed  content  with  the 
same  acknowledgment  of  his  supremacy  which  had 
satisfied  his  father,  but  the  tie  was  drawn  closer  by 
a  matrimonial  alliance.  In  January,  925,  the  ruler 
of  the  Danes  of  York,  Sihtric,  appeared  at  ^thel- 
stan's  court,  which  was  then  at  Tamworth,  and  took 
the  king's  sister  to  wife.'     The  bond,  however,  soon 

who  had  before  him  a  life  of  yEthelstan  which  is  now  lost.  William's 
enthusiasm  for  ^thelstan,  however,  is  partly  attributable  to  the  king's 
bounty  to  Malmesbury.  *  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  925. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       211 


snapped;  for  in  926  Sihtric  died,  as  it  would  seem,  chap. v. 
by  a  violent  death,  which  may  have  been  provoked  The 
by  this  submission  to  the  English  king ;  and  a  re-  ^m^J! 
newal  of  the  old  confederacy  which  had  met.  his  ^^3^ 
father  warned  ^thelstan  that  the  time  had  come  to 
complete  his  work.  His  armies  marched  over  the 
border;  the  northern  Danelaw  passed  into  his 
hands  without  a  blow,*  and  its  allies  bowed  to  him 
with  as  little  resistance.  In  July,  ^thelstan  was 
met  at  a  place  called  Eamot  by  Howel,  King  of  the 
North  Welsh,  and  Owen  of  Gwent,  as  well  as  by  the 
Bernician  Ealdred  from  Bamborough  and  the  Scot- 
king  Constantine,  "  and  with  pledge  and  with  oaths 
they  bound  fast  the  peace."'  But  the  Welsh  had 
still  to  make  amends  for  their  disaffection.  Sum- 
moning the  chiefs  of  the  North  Welsh  before  him  at 
Hereford,  ^thelstan  forced  them  to  own  his  over- 
lordship  as  Mercian  king,  to  pay  a  yearly  tribute  of 
corn  and  cattle,  and  to  accept  the  Wye  as  a  bound- 
ary between  Welshmen  and  Englishmen.  The 
West  Welsh  must  have  shared  in  the  restlessness  of 
their  race,  for  from  Hereford  the  king  marched  to 
Exeter,  and,  driving  the  Britons  from  the  half  of  the 


^  Guthferth,  Sihtric's  son  and  successor,  was  driven  out,  says  Sim. 
Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  927.  The  Canterbury  Chronicle  (Earle,  E) 
places  this  in  927. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  926.  Mr.  Skene  (Celtic  Scotland,  i.  351) 
thinks  that  by  some  after-words,  "  and  they  renounced  all  idolatry, 
and  after  that  submitted  to  him  in  peace,"  the  Chronicle  "stamps 
its  own  statement  with  doubt."  The  words,  however,  may  be  only 
a  misplaced  bit  of  the  actual  convention  with  the  Danes  of  Deira. 
As  to  the  submission  itself,  I  think  it  may  fairly  be  questioned 
whether  this  is  not  the  real  transaction  which  the  Winchester 
Chronicler  (here  of  no  great  authority)  has  transferred  to  the  last 
year  of  Eadward  the  Elder. 


House  of 
-ElfretL 

901-937. 


212       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.v.  town  they  had  hitherto  occupied,  girded  it  with  a 
The  wall  of  stone/  Then  pushing  forward  to  the  Land's 
End,  he  forced  the  Cornwealas  to  an  engagement 
on  a  field  which  tradition  places  at  the  hamlet  of 
Holleit  by  St.  Buryan's,  where  two  huge  stones  are 
said  to  mark  the  burial-place  of  those  who  fell  in 
the  final  overthrow  of  their  race.  The  Tamar  was 
fixed  as  a  boundary  for  the  West  Welsh  of  Corn- 
wall, as  the  Wye  had  been  made  a  boundary  for  the 
North  Welsh  of  our  Wales.  From  this  moment, 
indeed,  we  may  look  upon  both  peoples  as  integral 
parts  of  the  English  kingdom,  owning  their  oneness 
with  it  by  tribute,  though,  in  North  Wales  at  least, 
breaking  their  allegiance  by  occasional  revolt. 
jEtheistaii,  That  /Ethelstan's  campaigns  in  the  west  did  their 
Nortkum-  work  is  plain  from  the  fact  that  in  the  later  troubles 
of  his  reign  we  hear  no  more  of  West -Welsh  or 
North-Welsh  risings.  His  work,  too,  seemed  fairly 
done  in  the  north.  As  yet  all  was  quiet  there, 
^thelstan  carried  out  his  father's  policy  of  a  na- 
tional union  in  the  person  of  the  king  by  taking  to 
himself  the  throne  of  Northumbria ;  already  King 
of  Wessex  and  King  of  Mercia,  he  became,  in  926, 
after  Sihtric's  death.  King  of  the  Northumbrians." 
The  new  realm  showed  no  signs  of  disaffection ;  the 
jarls  of  the  Danelaw  indeed,  Guthrum  and  Urm, 
Odda  and  Anlaf,  Regnwald  and  Scule,  Thurferth 
and  Halfdene,  Haward  and  Gunner,  sat  peacefully 
in  Witenagemots  among  ^thelstan's  ealdormen.  In 
the  same  great  assemblies  Rodward,  the  Archbishop 
of  York,  sat  side  by  side  with  the  Archbishop  of 

*  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  214. 
"  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  926. 


901-937. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  213 

Canterbury.'  We  have  already  seen  the  importance  chap.  v. 
which  the  destruction  of  the  neighboring  sees,  and  The 
his  lonely  position  as  representing  the  Engle  and  ^ur^, 
the  Christianity  of  the  north,  had  given  to  the  north- 
ern primate.  It  was  through  him,  above  all,  that 
Ethels  tan  could  win  hold  on  the  newly  conquered 
kingdom  ;  and  in  934  the  death  of  Rodward  enabled 
the  king  to  secure,  as  it  seemed,  this  support  by  the 
appointment  of  a  new  archbishop  of  his  own,  Wulf- 
stan,'  while  grants  to  Beverley  and  Ripon '  secured 
the  loyalty  of  the  northern  clergy.  But  ^thelstan 
was  as  eager  to  win  over  Danes  as  Englishmen. 
As  we  have  seen,  the  fusion  of  the  two  races  had  al- 
ready begun.  Even  in  Alfred's  day  we  find  a  young 
Dane  among  the  scholars  at  Athelney,  Frisian  sail- 
ors manning  the  royal  long-ships,  and  Norwegians 
like  Othere  at  court,  owning  the  king  as  their  lord. 


'  In  929,  perhaps  in  a  Witenagemot  at  York,  we  find  among  the 
signatures  of  "duces  et  caeteri  optimates"  those  of  Guthrum,  Urm, 
Odda,  Anlaf,  as  well  as  of  "  Rodeward  quoque  Archipraesul  cum 
Eboracensis  suffraganeis  "  (Cod.  Dip.  347).  The  Archbishop  signs 
another  charter  of  the  same  year  with  "  Urmus  Dux"  and  "  Guthrum- 
mus  dux"  (Cod.  Dip.  348).  At  Lewton,  in  931,  Orm,  Guthrum,  Ha- 
ward,  Gunner,  Thurferth,  Hadd,  and  Scule  sign  as  "duces"  (Cod. 
^ip-  353)'  ^^  the  great  Witenagemot  of  Colchester,  in  931,  we  find 
Guthrum,  Thurum,  Haward,  Regenwold,  Hadd,  and  Scule  as  "  du- 
ces" (Cod.  Dip.  1 102),  and  the  Archbishop  of  York.  Archbishop 
Wulfstan  again  appears,  in  932,  in  an  equally  large  Witenagemot  at 
Middleton  with  Uhtred,  Thesberd,  Guthrum,  Urm,  Regnwald,  Hatel, 
Scule,  Thurferth,  and  "Imper"  (Cod.  Dip.  1107),  and  in  the  Wite- 
nagemot of  Winchester,  934,  with  "  Inhwaer,  Halfdene,  Oswulf, 
Scule,  and  Hadd"  (Cod.  Dip.  364). 

"  The  first  charter  with  his  signature,  if  genuine,  must  belong  to 
this  year. — Cod.  Dip.  350,  with  note. 

'  (Tod.  Dip.  358  (spurious),  and  the  equally  spurious  riming  char- 
ters to  Beverly,  Cod.  Dip.  359,  360,  preserve  the  memory  of  these 
grants. 


2  14  ^^^  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAKv.  The  earlier  days  of  Eadward  saw   the   Danes  of 
The      Northumbria  take  a  West-Saxon  aetheling  for  their 

^red!   king,  and  the  Danes  of  East  Angha  follow  him  as 

90^937.  their  war-leader.  The  war  brought  the  Northmen 
—  into  close  relations,  if  not  with  the  English,  at  any 
rate  with  their  royal  house ;  and  the  personal  rela- 
tion which  the  oath  of  allegiance  had  established  r 
between  the  king  and  his  new  subjects  was  more 
than  maintained  by  i^thelstan.  Odo,  one  of  his 
favorite  clerks  and  counsellors,  whom  he  raised 
about  926  to  the  bishopric  of  Ramsbury,'  and  who 
afterwards  became  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was 
certainly  of  Danish  blood,  and  said  to  be  the  son 
of  one  of  the  pagan  warriors  who  landed  with  Ivar 
and  Hubba."  In  all  the  northern  sagas  he  is  repre- 
sented, in  contrast  to  his  successor,  as  a  friend  to 
the  Northmen;  and  though  tales  like  that  in  the 
saga  of  Egil  Skallogrimson,  of  the  service  of  Egil 
and  his  brother  Thorolf  under  -^thelstan's  banner, 
can  hardly  be  accepted  as  history,  they  at  any  rate 
preserve  the  belief  of  the  north  that  i^thelstan 
maintained  a  force  of  its  warriors  at  his  court,  and 
loved  to  listen  to  its  skalds. 

///s  Wife-  As  yet  this  policy  of  fusion  seemed  fairly  success- 
ful ;  for  Northumbria  showed  no  signs  of  resistance, 
and  the  king's  peaceful  march  on  York  was  followed 
by  eight  years  of  as  peaceful  acquiescence  in  his 
rule.     The  submission  of  the   Welsh,  too,  seemed 

*  Stubbs,  Registr.  Sacr.  Anglic,  p.  14. 

"^  "  Dicunt  quidam  quod  ex  ipsis  Danis  pater  ejus  esset,  qui  cum 
classica  cohorte  cum  Huba  et  Hinwar  veniebant.'' — Vit.  S.  Oswaldi 
Anon.,  Raine's  Historians  of  Ch.  of  York,  i.  404.  "  Hie,  ut  fertur, 
Ethelstano  regi  valde  carus  esset  et  acceptus." — Eadmer,  Life  of  Os- 
wald, Angl.  Sac.  ii.  192. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       215 

complete;  for  their  "  under-kings,"  Howel  and  Jud-  chap. v. 
wal,  Morcant  and  Owen,  sat  in  the  great  Witenage-     The 
mots'  which  mark  this  period  of  ^thelstan's  reign,    mtrel 
In  ^thelstan's  Witenagemots,  indeed,  in  the  number  90^1^37. 
and  variety  of  their  attendants,  England  saw  some-     — 
what  of  a  foreshadowing  of  national  life/'      Never 
before   had    Danish  jarls   and    Welsh  princes,  the 
primate  of  the  north  and  the  primate  of  the  south, 
nobles   and    thegns   from    Northumbria   and    East 
Anglia,  as  from  Mercia  and  Wessex,  met  in  a  com- 
mon gathering  to  give  rede  and  counsel  to  a  com- 
mon king.     As  witan   from    every  quarter  of  the 
land  stood  about  his  throne,  men  realized  how  the 
King  of  Wessex  had  risen  into  the  King  of  Eng- 
land.     Such   assemblies  could  not  fail  to  gather 
rights  about  theni,  though  the  rights  of  the  witan 
were  determined  rather  by  their  actual  power  as 
great  lords  and  prelates  than  by  any  constitutional 
theory.     But  the  old  Germanic  tradition,  which  as- 
sociated "  the  wise  men  "  in  all  royal  action,  gave  a 
constitutional  ground  to  the  powers  which  the  Wite- 
nagemot  exercised  more  and  more  as  English  so- 
ciety took  a  more  and  more  aristocratic  form ;  and 
it  thus  came  to  share  with  the  crown  in  the  higher 
justice,  in  the  imposition  of  taxes,  the  making  of 

^  In  that  of  Lewton,  in  931,  we  find  Howel  and  Judwal ;  in  anoth- 
er of  931,  Howel,  Judwal,  Morcant,  Eugenius  ;  in  one  of  932,  Howel, 
Judwal,  Morcant,  Wurgeat ;  in  the  Winchester  Witenagemot  of  934, 
Howel,  Judwal,  Teowdor ;  in  the  Frome  Witenagemot  of  934,  Howel 
alone.— Cod.  Dip.  353,  1 103,  1 107,  364,  1 1 10. 

'  The  Witenagemot  at  Lewton,  in  931,  numbered  ninety-four  per- 
sons :  two  archbishops,  two  Welsh  under-kings,  seventeen  bishops, 
fifteen  duces,  and  fifty-nine  "ministers."' — Cod.  Dip.  353.  That  of 
Colchester  (March,  931)  numbered  sixty-nine  attendants;  that  of 
Middleton  (August,  932)  eighty-six. — Cod.  Dip.  1102,  1107. 


2l6  THE   CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

cHAP.v.  laws,  the  conclusion  of  treaties,  the  control  of  war. 
The     the  disposal  of   public   lands,  the  appointment  of 

iEifred.   bishops   and  great  officers    of   state.     There  were 

90^937.  times  when  it  claimed  even  to  elect  or  depose  a 
—     king: 

^order  Under  ^thelstan,  however,  its  work  was  simply 
a  work  of  order.  The  disturbance  of  society  which 
had  been  brought  about  by  the  Danish  wars  had 
forced  this  work  on  the  king  from  the  very  outset 
of  his  reign."  The  laws  enacted  in  a  "  great  synod" 
at  Greatley,  near  Andover,  for  the  central  provinces, 
repeated  at  a  Witenagemot  at  Exeter'  for  the  prov- 
inces of  the  west,  and  again  promulgated  in  like 
meetings  of  witan  at  Feversham  and  Thunresfeld 
for  Kent  and  for  Surrey,  were  in  effect  a  code  for 
the  regulation  of  public  order,'  and  above  all  for  the 
defence  of  property.  The  defiance  of  justice  by 
nobles  and  thegns,  before  which  the  local  courts 
were  helpless,  stood  foremost  among  the  evils  of  the 
time.  It  was  an  evil  which  only  the  growing  de- 
velopment of  the  "king's  justice  "  could  meet.  "If 
any  be  so  rich  or  of  such  great  kindred,"  ran  the 

^  Kemble,  Saxons  in  Eng.  vol.  ii.  cap.  vi. 

'■»  "  That  they  would  all  hold  the  frith,  as  King  ^thelstan  and  l\js 
witan  had  counselled  it,  first  at  Greatanlea  and  again  at  Exeter  and 
'  afterwards  at  Feversham,  and  a  fourth  time  at  Thunresfeld  before 
the  archbishop  and  all  the  bishops  and  his  witan,  whom  the  king 
himself  named  who  were  thereat."  —  Dooms  of  London,  Thorpe, 
Anc.  Laws,  i.  241.  "All  the  witan  gave  their  weds  together  to  the 
archbishop  at  Thunresfeld,  when  ^Ifeah  Stybb  and  Bryhtnoth 
Odda's  son  came  to  meet  the  Witenagemot  by  the  king's  command." 
— Ibid.  239. 

'  "  At  midwinter." — Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  221. 

♦  We  may  note  that  their  scope  extends  only  to  Wessex  :  Mercia 
and  the  Danelaw  had  still  their  separate  systems  of  legislation  and 
government. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


217 


Exeter  law,  "  that  he  cannot  be  kept  back  from  rob-  chap. v. 
bery  or  the  defence  of  robbers,  let  him  be  taken  out     The 
of  that  country  with  wife  and  child  and  all  his  goods   ^iSea. 
into  that  part  of  this  kingdom  that  the  king  wills,  be  901I937. 
he  who  he  may,  whether  one  of  the  thegns  or  vil-     — 
leins,  on  terms  that  he  never  return  into  his  own 
land." '     Nor  could  any  save  the  king  deal  with  the 
abuses  of  the  sokes,  or  private  jurisdictions  like  the 
later  manorial  courts,  with   "  the  lord  who  denies 
justice  and  upholds  his  evil-doing  men,"  the  "  lord 
who  is  privy  to  his  theow's  theft,"  or  the  "reeve 
who    is    privy   to    the   thieves  who  have  stolen."' 
pther  regulations  furthered  the  social  revolution 
which  was  replacing  the  freeman  by  the  lord  and  his 
man.     For  the  lordless  man,  "  of  whom  no  law  can 
be  got,"  his  kindred  were  to  find  a  lord  in  the  folk- 
moot,  or  he  was  to  be  held  for  an  outlaw  and  slain 
like  a  thief.'     On  the  other  hand,  a  lord  "  who  has 
so  many  men  that  he  cannot  personally  have  all  in 
his  own  keeping,"  was  bound  to  set  over  each  de- 
pendent township  a   reeve,  not  only  to  exact  his 
lord's  dues,  but  to   enforce  his  justice  within    its 
bounds.* 

The  growth  of  public  wealth  in  the  midst  of  this    ^^^^/'f 

o  ^  ^  ^  wealth. 

violence  was  shown  by  the  prommence  which  the 
king  gives  to  laws  affecting  property.  Theft  be- 
comes one  of  the  greatest  of  crimes ;  no  thief  was 
to  be  spared  who  was  taken  "  red-handed,"  or  who 
strove  to   defend   himself    or  to  flee  from   arrest.' 

*  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  218. 

*  Ibid.  201.  Mbid. 

*  "  Praeponat  sibi  singulis  villis  praepositum  unum." — LI.  Atheist., 
Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  217. 

'  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  199. 


2i8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

Trade  dealings  were  protected  by  regulations  whose 
severity  defeated  its  own  end.  No  man  might  "ex- 
change any  property  without  the  witness  of  the 
reeve  or  of  the  mass-priest,  or  of  the  land-lord,  or  of 
the  hordere,  or  of  other  unlying  man."  The  regula- 
tion that  all  marketing  was  to  be  "  within  port  "  or 
market  town,  nor  was  any  bargaining  lawful  on  Sun- 
days,' had  but  a  brief  life,  for  in  the  mid-winter 
meeting  at  Exeter  it  was  explicitly  repealed :  "  Let 
all  the  dooms  made  at  Greatley  be  kept,  save  those 
about  marketing  within  port  and  selling  on  Sun- 
days."' Another  enactment  shows  us  that  the 
growth  of  trade  to  which  these  regulations  point 
was  giving  a  new  importance  to  the  question  of  the 
coinage.  In  the  early  ages  of  the  English  occupa- 
tion we  find  only  a  coarse  imitation  of  the  later 
Roman  coinage ;  and  rude  and  base  as  this  money 
was,  it  probably  sufficed  for  a  land  whose  exchange 
was  mainly  conducted  by  barter.  The  laws  against 
mutilation  of  cattle — laws  really  directed  against  the 
damage  done  to  a  beast  which  in  a  perfect  state 
was  the  general  medium  of  exchange — and  the  fact 
that  these  laws  are  embodied  in  Ine's  code,  prove 
that  such  a  mode  of  payment  was  still  common  in 
the  opening  of  the  eighth  century  in  Wessex.  But 
in  Kent,  the  neighborhood  of  Gaul  and  the  growth 
of  trade  would  narrow  the  sphere  of  such  cattle- 
barter;  and  the  assessment  of  the  "wer"  through- 
out ^thelberht's  law  in  coin  shows  that  specie-pay- 
ment was  common  there  a  century  before  Ine's  day. 
It  was  not,  however,  till  Offa's  reign  that  the  grow- 
ing commerce,  as  well,  no  doubt,  as  the  growth  of 

*  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  205,  207,  213.  ^  Ibid.  218. 


801-987. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  219 

internal  trade,  forced  the  regulation  of  the  coinage  chap.  v. 
on  the  English  kings  as  a  political  matter ;  and  it  is  me 
significant  that  Offa  drew  his  standard  of  value  ^u^*!' 
from  the  coinage  of  the  Prankish  kings.'  But  the 
union  of  the  kingdoms  had  now  made  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  national  coinage  for  these  local  mintages 
a  necessity.  "  Let  there  be  one  money  over  all  the 
king's  land,"  ran  the  new  law ;  "  and  let  no  man 
mint  save  within  port."  The  list  of  towns  where 
mints  were  established  gives  us  a  rough  indication 
of  the  comparative  greatness  of  the  boroughs  in 
southern  Britain.  London  stood  at  their  head  with 
eight  moneyers,  Canterbury  followed  with  seven, 
Winchester  with  six,  Rochester  had  three  coiners, 
Lewes,  Southampton,  Wareham,  Exeter,  and  Shaftes- 
bury two,  Hastings,  Chichester,  and  "other  burhs" 
but  one."  ^^^ 

The  real  difficulty,  however,  lay  not  in  making,  ^';»v^- 
but  in  enforcing  the  law;  for  strong  as  the  crown 
might  be,  its  strength  lay  in  the  king's  personal  ac- 
tion, and  it  was  far  from  possessing  any  adequate 
police  or  judicial,  machinery  for  carrying  its  will 
into  effect.  To  supply  such  a  machinery  was  the 
aim  of  the  frith-gilds.  Society  and  justice,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  till  now  rested  on  the  basis  of  the 
family,  on  the  kinsfolk  bound  together  in  ties  of 
mutual  responsibility  to  each  other  and  to  the  law. 
As  society  became  more  complex  and  less  station- 
ary, it  necessarily  outgrew  these  ties  of  blood,  and  in 
England  this  dissolution  of  the  family  bond  seems 
to  have  taken  place  at  the  very  time  when  Danish 

*  See  Robertson,  Histor.  Essays,  p.  63. 
'  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  207,  209. 


2  20       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  incursions  and  the  growth  of  a  feudal  temper  among 
The  the  nobles  rendered  an  isolated  existence  most  peril- 
i^fred.  ous  for  the  freeman.  His  only  resource  was  to 
90^937.  s^^^  protection  among  his  fellow-freemen,  and  to  re- 
—  place  the  older  brotherhood  of  the  kinsfolk  by  a 
voluntary  association  of  his  neighbors  for  the  same 
purposes  of  order  and  self-defence.  The  tendency 
to  unite  in  such  "  frith-gilds,"  or  peace-clubs,  became 
general  throughout  Europe  during  the  ninth  and 
tenth  centuries,  but  on  the  Continent  it  was  roughly 
met  and  repressed.  The  successors  of  Charles  the 
Great  enacted  penalties  of  scourging,  nose-slitting, 
and  banishment  against  voluntary  unions,  and  even 
a  league  of  the  poor  peasants  of  Gaul  against  the 
inroads  of  the  Northmen  w^as  suppressed  by  the 
swords  of  the  Prankish  nobles.  In  England  the 
attitude  of  the  kings  was  utterly  different.  The 
system  known  at  a  later  time  as  ''  frank-pledge,"  or 
free  engagement  of  neighbor  for  neighbor,  was  ac- 
cepted after  the  Danish  wars  as  the  base  of  social 
order.  Alfred  recognized  the  common  responsi- 
bility of  the  members  of  the  "  frith-gild  "  side  by  side 
with  that  of  the  kinsfolk,  and  ^^thelstan  accepted' 
"  frith-gilds  "  as  a  constituent  element  of  borough 
life  in  the  dooms  of  London.'  In  the  frith-gild  an 
oath  of  mutual  fidelity  among  its  members  was  sub- 
stituted for  the  tie  of  blood,  while  the  gild-feast,  held 
once  a  month  in  the  common  hall,  replaced  the 
gathering  of  the  kinsfolk  round  their  family  hearth. 
But  within  this  new  family  the  aim  of  the  gild  was 
to  establish  a  mutual  responsibility  as  close  as  that 

^  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  vol.  i.,  Ine,  pp.  113,  117;  JElhed,  pp.  79,  Si; 
^thelstan,  pp.  229. 237. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       221 

of  the  old.     "  Let  all  share  the  same  lot,"  ran  its  cuab.  v. 
law;  "if  any  misdo,  let  all  bear  it."      A  member     xbe 
could  look  for  aid  from  his  gild-brothers  in  atoning    m^J 
for  any  guilt  incurred  by  mishap ;  he  could  call  on  qqJI^y^ 
them  for  assistance  in  case  of  violence  or  wrong ;  if     — 
falsely  accused  they  appeared  in  court  as  his  com- 
purgators ;  if  poor  they  supported,  and  when  dead 
they  buried  him.     On  the  other  hand,  he  was  re- 
sponsible to  them,  as  they  were  to  the  State,  for 
order   and    obedience   to   the   laws.     A  wrong   of 
brother  against  brother  was  a  wrong  against  the 
general  body  of  the  gild,  and  was  punished  by  fine, 
or  in  the  last  resort  by  expulsion,  which   left  the 
offender  a  "  lawless  "  man  and  an  outcast.     The  one 
difference  between  these  gilds  in  country  and  town 
was  that  in  the  latter  case,  from  their  close  local 
neighborhood,  they  tended  inevitably  to  coalesce. 
Imperfect  as  their  union  might  be,  when  once  it  was 
effected  the  town  passed  from  a  mere  collection  of 
brotherhoods  into  an  organized  community,  whose 
character  was  inevitably  determined  by  the  circum- 
stances of  its  origin. 

While  the  frith-gild  was  thus  supplying  one,  at  Theshhe. 
least,  of  the  elements  of  a  new  municipal  life  wuthin 
English  boroughs,  a  new  organization  of  the  country 
at  large  was  going  on. in  the  institution  of  the  shire. 
In  the  earlier  use  of  the  word,  "  shire  "  had  simply 
answered  to  "  division."  The  town  of  York  was 
parted  into  seven  such  shires.  There  were  six 
"  small  shires  "  in  Cornwall.  The  old  kingdom  of 
Deira  has  left  indications  of  its  divisions  in  our 
Richmondshire,  Kirbyshire,  Riponshire,  Hallam- 
shire,  Islandshire  and   Norhamshire ;   just  as  their 


222       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


CHAR  V.  lathes  and  rapes  represent,  perhaps,  the  old  shires 
The     of  the  kingdoms  of  Kent  and  of  Surrey.     The  name 

jEHMd^  was  used  even  for  ecclesiastical  divisions  of  terri- 

90^987  ^^^y — ^  diocese  is  a  "  bishop's  shire," '  a  parish  is  a 
—  "  kirk  shire."  But  in  its  later  form  of  a  territorial 
division  for  purely  administrative  purposes,  the  shire 
was,  in  fact,  the  creation  of  an  artificial  "  folk."  Its 
judicial  and  administrative  forms  were  all  those  of 
the  "  folk  "  transferred  within  artificial  boundaries ; 
and  the  representative  life  of  folk-moot  and  hun- 
dred-moot was  thus  preserved  in  the  shire,  with  all 
its  incalculable  consequences  in  later  English  his- 
tory. 
'^%!L'if'      ^^^  shire,  so  far  as  we  can  see  historically,  is 

shires,  specially  a  West-Saxon  institution.  The  first  traces 
of  it,  indeed,  may  probably  be  found  in  the  earliest 
ages  of  West-Saxon  history.  The  original  Wessex 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  region  of  the  Gwent,  and 
the  earliest  portion  of  West-Saxon  conquest  within 
that  area  was  the  region  we  call  Hampshire.  For 
this  region  we  possess  no  earlier  name,  and  in  the 
name  itself  we  find  traces  of  a  very  early  date,  for 
Hampshire  is  but  an  abridged  Hamtonshire,  the 
district  that  found  its  centre  in  the  tun  that  is  now 
represented  by  our  Southampton.  Had  the  forma- 
tion of  this  district  taken  place  after  the  revival  of 
Winchester,  and  the  settlement  of  the  West-Saxon 
kings  and  bishops  there  in  the  time  of  Cenwalch,' 
the   district   would   naturally   have    taken    such   a 

*  That  of  Ealdhelm  is  styled  "  Selwoodshire."  -^thelweard,  a. 
709.  On  the  other  hand,  we  may  note  that  Baeda  knows  only  of 
"dioceses"  in  Wessex, as  he  knows  only  "  regiones"  in  Mercia. 

'  Cenwalch  reigned  from  643  to  672. — (A.  S.  G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


223 


name  as  Winchestershire,  like  our  Leicestershire  char  v. 
or  Gloucestershire ;  but  its  name  of  Hamtonshire  The 
points  necessarily  to  an  earlier  date  than  this,  and  ^^red. 
one  which  cannot  be  later  than  the  first  half  of  the  901I937. 
seventh  century.  The  name,  however,  has  more  to 
tell  us.  A  shire  is  necessarily  a  district  "  shorn  "  off 
from  some  .neighbor  district ;  and  the  artificial  char- 
ac^ter  of  such  a  "shearing"  between  Hampshire  and 
Wiltshire  is  shown  in  the  absence  of  any  distinctly 
marked  local  divisions  in  the  bounds  between  the 
two  shires,  while  a  close  connection  between  the  two 
districts  is  shown  in  the  similarity  of  their  naming. 
Not  only  does  Hampshire  draw  its  name  from  the 
"  tun  "  of  the  first  Gewissas  at  Hamton,  but  the  "  t " 
in  our  Wiltshire  shows  that  the  word  is  only  a  con- 
tracted form  of  Wiltonshire,  or  the  shire  that  found 
its  "  tun  "  in  our  Wilton,  the  settlement  made  by  the 
Gewissas  in  the  valley  of  the  little  Wil  or  Wiley. 
It  is  possible  that  each  tun  may  have  been  a  gather- 
ing-place of  its  shire-folk  for  moots  and  sacrifices ; 
but,  however  this  may  have  been,  we  cannot  fail  to 
see  in  the  relations  of  the  two  an  indication  not  only 
of  the  very  early  existence  of  the  shire  institution 
among  the  West  Saxons,  but  of  the  formation  of  the 
shire  in  its  earliest  shape  round  a  central  "  tui^." 

The  West -Saxon  origin  of  the  "shire  "is  con- -^^J^'I^Jf" 
firmed  by  the  fact  that  its  name  first  occurs  in  the  •^'^">'^' 
laws  of  the  West-Saxon  Ine.'  The  shire  already 
has  its  shireman,  or  shire-reeve,  whose  primary  busi- 
ness must  have  been  the  collection  of  the  royal  farms 
and  dues  from  each  district,  but  who,  in  assessing 
these  and  deciding  on  claims  of  exemption  and  the 

^  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  107. 


2  24  ^^^  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  like,  must,  from  the  first,  have  tended  to  become  the 
The  judicial  officer  we  find  him  under  i^lfred,  and  to 
miel  take  his  place  in  the  shire-moot  in  that  capacity  be- 
90^937.  side  bishop  and  ealdorman.  It  is  possible,  however, 
that  in  Ine's  day  this  shire-organization  did  not  ex- 
tend beyond  the  area  of  the  Gwent,  with,  perhaps, 
its  dependency  of  the  present  Berkshire.  Wessex, 
indeed,  was  already  spreading  beyond  its  older 
bounds ;  besides  Sussex  or  Surrey  or  the  districts 
across  the  Thames,  the  West  Saxons  to  the  east  of 
Selwood  saw  a  new  Wessex  to  the  west  of  that  for- 
est, in  the  regions  of  the  Dorsaetan  and  of  the  Som- 
ersaetan.  Their  conquests,  however,  in  this  quarter, 
were  far  from  being  completed  in  the  reign  of  Ine ; 
the  conquest,  in  fact,  of  the  southwest,  dragged  on 
until  the  reign  of  Ecgberht,  and  it  is  likely  enough 
that,  amid  the  troubles  of  the  kingdom  during  this 
period,  the  organization  of  the  loosely  compacted 
folks  of  "ssetan,"  or  settlers,  that  spread  over  its  va-. 
rious  regions,  did  not  receive  any  definite  form  till 
that  time.  From  Ecgberht's  day,  however,  we  have 
grounds  for  believing  that  the  whole  of  the  West- 
Saxon  kingdom  was  definitely  ordered  in  separate 
"pagi,"  each  with  an  ealdorman  at  its  head,  and 
these  "  pagi "  can  hardly  have  been  other  than  shires.' 
In  the  names  of  the  bulk  of  them,  however,  we  note 
a  striking  difference  from  the  names  of  the  two  ear- 

^  In  the  course  of  the  Danish  descents,  at  this  time,  the  Chronicle 
mentions  ealdormen  of  Hamtonshire,  of  the  Wilssetan,  of  Surrey,  and 
of  Berkshire  to  the  east  of  Selwood  ;  of  Dorset,  Somerset,  and  Dev- 
on to  the  west  of  it.  Asser  mentions  "  Wilton-scire  "  in  878.  He 
speaks  of  Chippenham  "  quae  est  sita  in  sinistrali  parte  Wiltun-scire  " 
— (ed.  Wise),  p.  30.  In  his  translation  of  Orosius,  -Alfred  speaks  of 
Halgoland  as  a  "  scyr." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       225 

Her  shires.     The  district  no  longer  draws  its  name  chap.  v. 
from  the  central  "tun."     In  the  case  of  Somerset,     The 
indeed,  such  a  tun  seems  to  have  existed  at  Somer-  Alfred, 
ton,  but  it  does  not  give  its  name  to  the  shire.     The  901I937. 
Somersaetan,  Hke  the  Dorsaetan,  had,  perhaps,  never 
arrived  at  even  the  rude  unity  which,  in  the  Wilsae- 
tan,  is  seen  raising  their  central  township  to  an  im- 
portance  that  enabled  it  to  supersede  their  name, 
and  to  give  its  own  name  to  the  district ;  while  far- 
ther west  the  settlement  was  so  sparse  that  even  the 
settlers  failed  to  print  their  name  exclusively  on  the 
land,  and  it  retained  its  old  Welsh  title  of  Devon,  or 
Dyvnaint,  side  by  side  with  Defnsaetan. 

In  the  eastern  dominion  of  the  West-Saxon  kings  The  shire 
the  new  institution  adapted  itself  equally  to  the  older 
kingdoms.  Kent,  Surrey,  Sussex,  Essex,  became 
shires  equally  with  the  "  saetan  "  of  the  west,  though 
the  retention  of  their  older  names  showed  the 
strength  of  their  national  tradition.*  That  the 
shire  had  spread  over  them  by  ^thelstan's  time, 
we  may  gather  from  the  tenor  of  his  laws,  which 
speak  of  the  shire  as  the  settled  political  and  judicial 
division  throughout  Wessex  at  large.'  It  is  more 
doubtful  when  it  spread  over  Mid  -  Britain.      Into 

•  Kent,  however,  is  "Kent-shire"  in  the  record  of  its  folk-moot, 
under  ^thelstan. — Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  216. 

"  ^thelstan's  laws,  as  I  have  before  pointed  out,  only  concern 
Wessex ;  but  they  concern  all  Wessex,  as  their  reception  in  Kentish 
and  Surrey  Witenagemots  proves.  The  "  shire  "  is  always  referred 
to  as  an  old  and  settled  thing.  At  Thunresfeld,  probably  in  Surrey, 
the  witan  pledged  themselves  "  that  each  reeve  should  take  the  wed 
in  his  own  shire." — Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  241.  The  London  gild- 
brothers  trace  a  track  "from  one  shire  to  another." — Ibid.  237. 
"  Let  forfang  everywhere,  be  it  in  one  shire,  be  it  in  more,  be  fifteen 
pence." — Ibid.  225. 

15 


901-937. 


2  26       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  English  Mercia  it  can  hardly  have  been  introduced 
The     before  the  annexation  of  that  district  by  Eadward  in 

^^tJ!  919;'  and  as  the  few  remaining  years  of  that  king 
are  spent  in  warfare,  it  probably  dates  from  the  days 
of  ^thelstan.  The  Mercian  kingdom,  as  its  bish- 
ops' sees  show,  had  been  arranged  in  five  distinct 
regions — the  land  of  the  Lindiswaras,  that  of  the 
Hwiccas,  the  original  Mercia  with  its  dependencies 
and  its  royal  city  at  Tamworth,  the  land  of  the  Mid- 
dle Engle  about  Leicester,  and  the  land  of  the  South 
Engle,  with  its  see  at  Dorchester.  None  of  these 
bore  the  name  of  shires;  and  in  the  earliest  shire- 
organization  their  existence  is  only  partially  recog- 
nized. The  land  of  the  Lindiswaras,  indeed,  became 
Lincolnshire,  that  of  the  Middle  Engle  may  be  equiv- 
alent to  Leicestershire ;  but  the  other  divisions  are 
broken  into  smaller  districts.  Thus,  in  the  new  or- 
dering of  English  Mercia,  the  land  of  the  Hwiccas 
was  broken  into  the  shires  of  Gloucester  and  Worces- 
ter, while  that  of  the  Hecanas  became  Hereford- 
shire ;  the  clearings  of  the  Hwiccas,  in  the  south  of 
Arden,  were  formed  into  a  shire  about  ^thelflaed's 
new  fortress  of  Warwick,  as  the  dependent  districts 
of  the  original  Mercia  along  the  Dee  were  made  a 
shire  for  the  fortress  of  Chester,  and  the  lands  of 
the  old  South  Mercians  at  the  head-waters  of  the 
Trent  a  shire  for  the  fortress  of  Stafford.  All  these 
districts  drew  their  names,  like  the  earlier  West- 
Saxon  shires,  from  their  central  "  town,"  save  Shrop- 

^  I  cannot  agree  with  the  suggestion  that  Alfred  may  have  formed 
the  shires  of  EngHsh  Mercia.  In  that  case  the  bounds  of  the  Mer- 
cian shires  would  correspond  with  the  then  bounds  of  the  Danelaw. 
This  they  do  not  do ;  which  makes  a  date  after  the  conquest  of  the 
Danelaw  pretty  certain. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       22  7 

shire,  among  whose  "scrob,"  or  bush,  no  local  centre  chap^v. 
may  as  yet  have  grown  into  life.  The 

This  connection  of  the  shire  with  its  town  centre  ^^fred! 
would  necessarily  be  strengthened  when  ^thelstan,  90^937. 
or  his  successors,  extended  the  shire  system  over  ^^T^^^y^ 
Guthrum's  kingdom,  or  the  Five  Boroughs ;  for,  as  in  the 
we  have  seen,  the  Danes,  with  their  jarls  and  holds, 
had,  for  the  most  part,  clustered  in  the  towns,  and 
ruled  from  thence  the  districts  about  them.  The 
historic  continuity  of  these  districts,  indeed,  re- 
mained for  the  most  part  unbroken.  The  land  of 
the  Lindiswaras  became  Lincolnshire ;  Nottingham- 
shire may  represent  a  people  of  the  North  Engle, 
as  Derbyshire  the  northern,  and  Staffordshire  the 
southern  divisions  of  the  original  Mercians ;  Leices- 
tershire included  the  land  of  the  old  Middle  Engle, 
as  Northamptonshire,  it  may  be,  that  of  the  South 
Engle;  while  North-Gyrwa  and  South-Gyrwa  land 
reappeared  as  Huntingdonshire  and  Cambridgeshire. 
But  here,  as  in  the  rest  of  Mid-Britain,  the  shire- 
names  are  wholly  different  in  character  from  those 
to  the  south  of  the  Thames.  The  two  "  folks  "of 
East  Anglia  alone  recall  the  folk-districts  and  an- 
cient kingdoms  of  southern  Britain;  Gainas  and 
Hwiccas,  Hecanas  and  Magesaetas,  Middle  Engle 
and  South  Engle,  the  very  name  of  Mercia  itself, 
alike  disappeared  from  local  nomenclature.  What, 
however,  distinguishes  this  district  from  the  rest  of 
Mid-Britain  is  that  here  we  find  a  trace  of  purely 
artificial  divisions.  When  Eadward,  in  91 2,  annexed 
London  and  Oxford,  each  town  already  had  "  lands 
which  owed  obedience  thereto," '  lands  which  could 
*  Eng.  Chron.  a.  912. 


228       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.V.  hardly  have  been  other  in  extent  than  the  present 
The      Middlesex  and  Oxfordshire,  though  the  phrase  itself 

Alfred!'  is  fair  evidence  that  they  had  not,  as  yet,  been  brought 

90^937.  within  the  shire  system.  Middlesex,  as  we  have  seen, 
—  owed  its  being  to  the  severance  of  London  from  the 
rest  of  Essex ;  and  in  the  "  lands  "  about  Oxford  we 
may  possibly  see  the  district  won  at  a  time  when  it 
served  as  a  frontier  town  against  Guthrum's  realm. 
Hertfordshire,  Buckinghamshire,  and  Bedfordshire 
are  other  instances  of  purely  military  creation,  dis- 
tricts assigned  to  the  fortresses  which  Eadward 
raised  at  these  points.' 

The  shire-      \^  Q^e  important  point  the  organization  of  the 

reeve.  i  •  i 

West-Saxon  shu'es  does  not  seem  to  have  been  fully 
carried  out  in  those  of  the  rest  of  Britain.  In  Wes- 
sex  each  shire  had  its  ealdorman,  the  representative, 
no  doubt,  of  its  old  local  independence,  and  the  head 

*  "  The  arrangement  of  the  whole  kingdom  in  shires  is,  of  course, 
a  work  which  could  not  be  completed  until  it  was  permanently  uni- 
ted under  Eadgar;  and  the  existing  subdivisions  of  southern  Eng- 
land are  all  traceable  back  to  his  day  at  the  latest." — Stubbs,  Const. 
Hist.  i.  129.  In  East  Anglia  the  shire-system  may  have  been  of 
late  introduction.  Indeed,  it  can  hardly  have  been  definitely  settled 
before  the  Norman  Conquest,  as  its  divisions  seem  to  have  been 
often  regarded  as  a  single  shire  up  to  that  time,  and  the  retention 
of  the  tribal  nomenclature  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  instead  of  names 
drawn  from  its  town  centres,  implies  that  the  "shire"  had  won  a 
weaker  hold  than  elsewhere.  The  northern  shires  are  of  yet  later 
date;  we  only  hear  of  "Yorkshire"  on  the  verge  of  the  Conquest. 
"  Durham  is  the  county  palatine  of  the  Conqueror's  minister,  formed 
out  of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Cuthbert.  Lancashire  was  formed  in 
J  the  twelfth  century  by  joining  the  Mercian  lands  between  Ribble 

and  Mersey  with  the  northern  hundreds,  which,  in  Doomsday,  were 
reckoned  to  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire.  Cumberland  is  the 
English  share  of  the  old  Cumbrian  or  Strathclyde  kingdom ; 
Northumberland  and  Westmoreland  are  the  remnants  of  Northum- 
bria  and  the  Cumbrian  frontier." — Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  129. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  229 

of  its  armed  force.  In  Midland  Britain,  where  eald-  chap.  v. 
ormen  had  been  accustomed  to  rule  over  wider  re-  The 
gions  than  those  of  the  shires,  it  was,  perhaps,  im-  ^^ 
possible  to  identify  ealdormanries  with  each  shire,  90^1^37. 
and  we  find  groups  of  shires  falling  under  the  rule 
of  the  same  great  officer.'  But  the  shireman,  or  the 
shire-reeve,  was  present  in  all ;  and  his  presence 
gives  us  the  clue  to  the  real  grounds  of  the  shire 
system.^  Though  its  main  issues  were  political,  and 
though  its  yet  more  immediate  issues  probably  in- 
volved the  first  great  national  reconstruction  of  our 
judicial  system,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  its  orig- 
inal aim  was  strictly  financial.'  The  king's  reeve, 
like  the  reeve  of  any  one  else,  was  simply  the  agent 
through  whom  the  king  received  whatever  was  ow- 
ing to  him,  whether  the  customs  of  a  port,  or  the 
dues  of  his  thegns,  or  the  customary  "firm"  and 
services  of  a  town  which  lay  in  his  immediate  lord- 
ship. When  the  shire  was  once  constituted,  such 
an  agent  was  necessary  to  receive  that  portion  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  shire-court  which  fell  to  the 
crown,  and,  by  a  natural  extension  of  this  duty,  the 
various  sums  payable  within  the  limits  of  the  shire 
as  customary  dues,  heriots,  and  the  like.  Each  shire 
was  bound  to  provide,  not  only  a  stated  number  of 
men  for  the  fyrd,  but  a  stated  sum  by  way  of  com- 
position for  the  revenue  which  the  king  would  have 
drawn  from  what  had  been  the  folk-land  within  its 
bounds,  and  at  a  later  time  a  stated  number  of  ships, 
or  their  equivalent  in  "ship-money."     The  gather- 

^  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  131. 

»  For  shire-reeve,  see  Kemble,  Sax.  in  Eng.  ii.  157  ^/  seg'. 

»  See  Cod.  Dip.  1323. 


230       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  V.  ing  of  these  sums,  as  well  as  of  the  forfeitures  and 
The  fines  incurred  for  absence  from  moot  and  host,  was 
JEtfred!  the  work  of  the  shire-reeve.'  His  business,  however, 
C01I937.  was  necessarily  judicial  as  well  as  financial,  for  half 
—  the  work  of  a  shire-court  came  to  consist  in  the  as- 
certainment, the  assessment,  and  the  recovery  of 
such  royal  dues,  as  well  as  fines  and  forfeitures  owed 
to  the  crown ;  and  from  presiding  over  the  trial  of  this 
class  of  cases,  the  shire-reeve  could  not  fail  to  pass, 
like  the  later  Barons  of  the  Exchequer,  into  the  posi- 
tion of  a  standing  judge  of  the  court.  The  presence 
of  the  ealdorman  and  the  bishop,  who  legally  sat 
with  him  in  the  shire-moot,  and  whose  presence  re- 
called the  folk-moot  from  which  it  sprang,  would 
necessarily  be  rare  and  irregular,  while  the  reeve  was 
bound  to  attend  f  and  the  result  of  this  is  seen  in 
the  way  in  which  the  shire-moot  soon  became  known 
simply  as  the  sheriff's  court.  It  is  difficult  to  fix 
the  position  of  the  early  shire-reeve,  or  to  trace  the 
steps  by  which  he  rose  to  be  a  great  executive  offi- 
cer, while  he  absorbed  the  judicial  authority  of  bish- 
op and  earl."  But,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
it  is  clear  that  the  process  must  have  been  contin- 

*  "  I  command  all  my  reeves,"  says  Cnut,  "  that  they  justly  pro- 
vide for  me  as  my  own  and  maintain  me  therewith ;  and  that  no 
man  need  give  them  anything  as  farm -aid  unless  he  choose." — 
Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  413. 

'^  It  was,  in  fact,  the  shire-reeve  and  not  the  ealdorman  who  was 
the  constituting  officer^  of  the  shire-moot. — Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i. 
134. 

^  -^thelstan's  laws  imply  in  the  reeves  a  duty  of  putting  royal  en- 
actments in  force,  as  in  the  provisions  of  the  synod  of  Greatanlea ; 
and  by  ^thelred's  day  this  executive  character  was  clearly  recog- 
nized. "  If  there  be  any  man  who  is  untrue  to  all  the  people,  let  the 
king's  reeve  go  and  bring  him  under  surety,"  etc. — Thorpe,  Anc. 
Laws,  i.  283. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       231 

ually  going  on,  and  that  with  the  very  close  relation  char  v. 
of  finance  to  government  in  those  early  times,  the     The 
presence  of  the  royal  reeve  in  a  shire,  and  his  regu-   M\bei. 
lar  presidency  of  its  court,  must,  from  the  first,  have  90^1^7. 
brought  home  to  a  Mercian  or  an  East  Anglian  the 
sense  of  a  national  king  in  a  more  personal  and  con- 
tinuous way  than  any  other  agency. 

As  the  years  passed  in  this  work  of  peaceful  or- ^^^ff^^^^^ 
ganization,  and  the  realm  remained  unstirred  about 
him,  we  can  hardly  wonder  that  the  king  looked  on 
himself  more  and  more  as  "  Lord  of  Britain."  At 
his  accession  he  had  adopted  the  style  of  his  prede- 
cessor as  "King  of  the  Angul-Saxons;" '  but  once 
master  of  Northumbria  the  consciousness  of  a  larger 
rule  blends  oddly  with  the  effort  to  find  a  common 
name  for  the  lands  beneath  his  sway.  In  927  he 
calls  himself  "  Monarch  of  all  Britain ;" '  two  years 
later,  in  929,  he  is  administering  "  the  kingdom  of  all 
Albion ;" '  then,  after  two  more  years  of  fluctuation 
between  these  titles,  we  find  him,  in  933,  viewing  him- 
self in  a  more  literal  way  as  "  King  of  the  English- 
folk  and  of  all  the  nations  dwelling  with  them  on 
every  side."*  But  in  the  next  year  this  sobriety  of 
tone  is  set  aside  for  styles  of  a  more  high-flown 
sort,  and  ^thelstan  announces  himself  not  only  as 
"  King  of  the  Angul-Saxons  and  of  all  Britain,"  but 
as  "  Angul-Saxon  King  and  Brytenwealda  of  all 
these  islands," '  and  by  a  yet  higher  reach  of  language 

*  A  grant  of  926  says  "  Angul-Saxonum  rex." — Cod.  Dip.  1099. 
»Cod.  Dip.  iioo.  =»  Ibid.  347. 

*  "  Angligenarum  omniumque  gentium  undique  secus  habitantium 
rex." — Cod.  Dip.  1 109.  In  one  shape  or  other  this  form  of  the  royal 
style  seems  to  have  clung  to  the  English  chancery  through  several 
reigns.     Its  real  meaning  we  shall  see  in  Eadred's  day. 

*  His  subscription  to  the  Latin  charter,  "  Angul-Saxonum  necnon 


2  32  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  as  "  Basileus  of  the  English  and  at  the  same  time 
The     Emperor  of  the  kings  and  nations  dwelling  within 

^tfred!  the  bounds  of  Britain." ' 

90^937.  What  the  worth  of  such  claims  really  was  we  see 
—     from  the  fact  that  at  the  moment  he  used  them  the 

Stan's  di-  pompous  fabHc  of  his  "  Empire  "  was  crumbling  at 

pomacy.  j^^^\^t^^^^  fgg^^  NorthumbHa  had  risen,"  and  with 
its  rising  had  begun  a  struggle  which  was  to  tax  the 
energies  of  the  West-Saxon  kings  for  thirty  years  to 
come,  and  to  end  in  the  virtual  disintegration  of 
the  English  state.  In  some  measure  the  strife  was  a 
result  of  i^thelstan's  own  diplomacy.  He  saw  that 
his  holding  of  the  English  Danelaw  was  not  merely 
dependent  on  himself  and  the  English  Danes.  The 
settlement  of  the  Northmen  across  Watling  Street 
was  flanked  by  like  settlements  in  Ireland  and  in 
Gaul ;  and  no  lasting  peace  could  be  secured  with 
northern  Britain  which  did  not  provide  against  the 
revival  of  the  struggle  by  aid  from  either  quarter. 
The  Danes  of  Deira  were  closely  linked  with  those 
of  Dublin  and  Waterford ;  their  kings  were  drawn, 
in  fact,  from  the  same  stock,  and  were  often  only 
driven  from  the  one  realm  to  be  owned  as  rulers  in 

et  totius  Britanniae  rex,"  is  rendered  in  the  English  copy,  "  Ongol- 
Saxna  cyning  and  brytenwealda  ealles  thyses  iglandaes." — Cod.  Dip. 
1 1  lo.  The  word  "  brytenwealda  "  occurs  here  for  the  first  time ;  I 
find  no  other  instance  of  it  in  this  reign.  It  is  probably  borrowed 
from  the  entry  in  the  Chronicle  which  we  have  before  noticed 
(Making  of  England,  p.  306  et  seq.)\  and,  in  spite  of  the  ingenious 
arguments  built  on  it,  seems  to  me  merely  an  instance  of  the  litera- 
ry archaism  and  affectation  of  the  time. 

^  Cod.  Dip.  349. 

'  The  imperial  style  is  used  in  a  grant  to  the  Church  of  Worces- 
ter, by  which  ^thelstan  hopes  to  win  the  favor  of  the  saints  in  his 
war  with  "  Anolafa  rege  Norrannorum,  qui  me  vita  et  regno  privare 
disponit." — Cod.  Dip.  349. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  233 

the  other/     Thus,  Sihtric  had  been  king  of  Dublin,  chap,  v. 
and  when  driven  out  thence,  in  920,  became  king  at     The 
York.     His  son,  Olaf,  and  his  brother,  Guthferth,  ^mbJ! 
had  sailed  for  Dublin  on  ^thelstan's  annexation  of  90^1^37 
Deira.     From  the  actual  incidents  of  the  later  strug-     — 
gle,  the  danger  seems,  in  fact,  mainly  to  have  come 
from  this  quarter ;  but  though  Eadward's  work  in 
the  Ribble  country  may  have  been  directed  to  pro- 
viding against  descents  from  Ireland,  we  know  noth- 
ing of  the  policy  which  was  pursued  by  the  English 
kings  in  this  quarter,  and  it  is  clear  that  the  danger 
from  the  Northmen  in  Ireland  occupied  ^thelstan's 
mind  far  less  than  the  danger  from  the  Northmen  in 
Gaul. 

In  Gaul,  the  work  of  the  pirates  had  long  been  ^^^Jjf^J^^ 
shrinking  within  narrower  bounds.  They  had  with-  m  Oau/, 
drawn  from  the  Garonne.  They  were  now  little 
heard  of  in  the  Loire.  But  the  movement  of  defeat 
was  also  a  movement  of  concentration ;  and  their 
attacks  fell  more  heavily  than  before  on  the  valley 
of  the  Seine.  Ever  since  the  peace  of  Wedmore, 
the  Seine  valley  had  been  the  field  of  the  Northman 
Hrolf,  or,  as  later  story  called  him,  Rollo,  a  friend  of 
Guthrum  of  East  Anglia,  and  who  drew,  no  doubt, 
much  of  his  strength  from  the  English  Danelaw. 
His  work  had  already  produced  weighty  results  on 
the  aspect  of  French  politics ;  for  it  is  to  Hrolf s 
forays  along  the  Seine  that  France  owes  her  capi- 
tal and  the  line  of  her  kings.  Paris  rose  into  great- 
ness as  the  guard  of  the  Seine  valley  against  his  at- 
tacks, and  with  it  rose  the  line  of  Robert  the  Strong, 
a  warrior  to  whom  the  land  round  Paris  as  far  as 
*  Skene,  Celtic  Scot.  i.  351. 


2  34  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

cHAP.v.  the  sea  had  been  granted  as  a  border-land  against 
^e  the  Northmen.  The  defence  of  Paris  by  Robert's 
^red!  son,  Odo,  in  885,  raised  his  house  into  rivalry  even 
901^37.  wi^h  ^^^  descendants  of  Charles  the  Great ;  and,  in 
—  the  confusion  which  followed  on  the  death  of  the 
successor  of  Lewis  and  Carloman,  Odo  became  King 
of  the  western  Franks.  But  his  throne  was  dis- 
puted by  a  Karolingian  claimant,  Charles  the  Sim- 
ple ;  and  a  strife  for  the  crown,  which  opened  be- 
tween the  king  at  Paris  and  this  rival  king  at  Laon, 
hindered  the  first  from  doing  his  work  against  the 
pirates  of  the  Seine.  Beaten  off  again  and  again, 
Hrolf,  with  Northern  stubbornness,  still  made  his 
way  back  to  Rouen,  and  in  912  his  obstinacy  found 
its  reward,  for  in  the  treaty  of  Clair-on-Epte,  Charles 
the  Simple  granted  to  the  Northmen  the  coast  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Seine,  from  the  sea  to  the  Epte. 
//s  results.  No  cvcnt  of  the  time  can  compare  in  importance 
with  the  settlement  of  Hrolf  and  his  comrades  in 
their  new  "  Northman's  land."  In  France  its  effects 
were  felt  at  once.  What  mainly  brought  about  the 
treaty  was,  no  doubt,  the  rivalry  between  the  Karo- 
lingian house  and  the  house  of  Robert  the  Strong. 
Charles,  in  fact,  sought  to  weaken  the  duchy  of  Paris 
by  carving  Hrolfs  country  out  of  it,  and  by  cutting 
off  his  rivals  from  the  sea.  But  the  settlement  not 
only  weakened  his  rivals,  it  strengthened  Charles 
himself.  The  dread  that  the  Parisian  dukes  would 
strive  to  win  back  again  the  best  part  of  their  duchy, 
bound  the  Normans  to  the  cause  of  the  Karolingian 
kings ;  and  that  the  house  of  Charles  the  Great  still 
kept  a  hold  on  western  Frankland  for  more  than 
seventy  years  was  due  mainly  to  the  help  it  drew 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


235 


from  the  Normans  of  the  Seine.  But  all  thought  char  v. 
of  the  effects  which  Hrolf's  settlement  produced  on  The 
the  fortunes  of  France  is  lost  for  Englishmen  in  the  JiJfred. 
thought  of  its  effect  on  the  fortunes  of  England.  9011937. 
From  the  hour  when  the  Northmen  settled  at  the  — 
mouth  of  the  Seine,  the  story  of  the  country  which 
then  became  Normandy  interweaves  itself  with  the 
story  of  the  English  people.  As  we  pass  nowadays 
through  the  Northman's  land  it  is  English  history 
which  is  round  about  us.  The  names  of  hamlet  at 
ter  hamlet  have  memories  for  English  ears  ;  a  frag- 
ment of  castle  wall  marks  the  home  of  the  Bruce ;  a 
tiny  village  preserves  the  name  of  the  Percy ;  while 
English  religion  and  English  literature  look  back 
with  a  filial  reverence  to  the  valley  buried  deep  in 
its  forest  of  ash-woods,  through  which  wanders  the 
rivulet  of  "  Bec-Herlouin."  In  the  huge  cathedrals 
that  lift  themselves  over  the  red-tiled  roofs  of  Nor- 
man market  towns  we  recognize  the  models  of  those 
mightier  fabrics  which  displaced  the  lowly  churches 
of  early  England.  On  the  windy  heights  that  look 
over  orchard  and  meadow-land  rise  the  square,  gray 
keeps  which  Normandy  gave  to  the  cliffs  of  Rich- 
mond and  the  banks  of  the  Thames.  One  thought  is 
with  us  as  we  pass  from  Avranches  to  the  Bresle,  and 
this  thought,  the  thought  of  England's  conquest  by 
the  Norman,  becomes  a  living  thing  as  we  stand  with- 
in the  minster  which  the  Conqueror  raised  at  Caen. 

But  long  before  William's  day  the  fortunes  of  the      '^^^^ 
one  people  had  told  on  those  of  the  other.     From  Norman- 
the  first  hour  of  the  Norman  settlement  in  the  val-       ^' 
ley  of  the  Seine,  the  history  of  Normandy  linked 
itself  closely  wuth  that  of  England,  for  the  rise  of  a 


236       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  Danelaw  across  the  Channel  gave  a  new  force  to  the 
The  Danelaw  in  Britain.'  Whatever  hopes  of  preserving 
^mtred!  peaceful  relations  with  the  Northmen  over  Watling 
90^937.  Street  may  have  been  cherished  by  the  house  of 
—  i^lfred.  passed  away  with  the  settlement  of  their 
brethren  in  this  new  Northman's  land.'  As  help 
from  the  Danelaw  had  created  Normandy,  so  help 
from  Normandy  was  likely  to  give  a  new  strength 
to  the  Danelaw ;  and  the  part  which  the  Irish  Ost- 
men  had  played  till  now  in  succoring  and  re-arous- 
ing the  English  pirates  would  probably  from  this 
time  be  played  by  the  followers  of  Hrolf.  The  dan- 
ger grew  with  the  rapid  growth  of  the  new  settle- 
ment. Hrolf  was  a  statesman  as  well  as  a  warrior ; 
and  throughout  the  reign  of  Eadward  he  was  building 
up  a  state  by  policy  as  well  as  by  arms.  It  was  with 
a  statesman's  instinct  that  he  clung  to  the  king  who 
had  given  him  the  Northman's  land.  It  was  Hrolf 's 
sword  that  supported  Charles  the  Simple  against  his 
enemies — against  Odo's  son,  Duke  Robert  of  Paris, 
and  against  Robert's  son,  Hugh  the  Great.  Amidst 
all  the  king's  misfortunes  the  Norman  leader  stood 
firm  to  the  Karolingian  cause ;  it  was  as  a  loyal  sub- 
ject that  he  carried  his  raids  over  the  Parisian  duchy 

*  According  to  all  the  Norse  sources,  Gonguhrolf,  or  Hrolf,  was  of 
Norse  blood,  though  in  Norman  and  French  accounts  Dudo  and  his 
successors,  who  called  him  Rollo,  make  him  a  Danish  prince.  But, 
though  the  accounts  that  make  Hrolf  a  Norwegian  are  probably 
right,  Steenstrup  holds,  and  Maurer  on  this  point  agrees  with  him, 
that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  host  that  followed  him  into 
Normandy  were  of  Danish  descent.  See  K.  Maurer's  review  of 
Steenstrup  in  the  Jenaer  Literatur-zeitung,  4th  series,  No.  2,  Jan.  13, 
i877.p.25.-(A.S.G.) 

^  For  Hrolf's  help  to  Guthrum  against  Alfred,  see  Lappenberg, 
ii.  71,  72. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  237 

and  penetrated  even  to  Burgundy,  till  his  energy'and  chap.  v. 
fidelity  were  rewarded  by  the  addition  of  the  Bessin,  The 
the  district  about  Bayeux,  to  the  Northman's  land.  mbed. 
In  extent,  therefore,  as  in  warlike  fame,  the  power  90^937. 
of  the  Normans  had  almost  doubled  at  the  opening  ^~^^^ 
of  i^thelstan's  reign  ;  and  while  the  stern  hand  of  Lo»g- 
their  leader  had  fashioned  his  pirates  into  a  people, 
whose  numbers,  no  doubt,  grew  with  an  influx  of 
Northmen  from  the  English  Danelaw  as  it  passed 
under  West-Saxon  sway,  his  political  ability  was  shown 
in  the  ease  with  which  the  settlement  was  completed 
and  the  peace  that  he  made  throughout  the  land. 
Nor  were  the  power  and  ability  of  his  son,  William 
Longsword,  less  than  those  of  Hrolf  himself.  Will- 
iam's attitude  in  the  strife  between  king  and  duke 
was  that  of  his  father ;  while  within  he  carried  on 
with  even  greater  vigor  the  conversion  and  civiliza- 
tion of  his  people.  But  of  this  civilization  of  the 
Normans,  this  instinctive  drawing  closer  to  the  Christ- 
endom about  them,  which  was  to  be  the  key-note  of 
their  history,  the  France  and  the  England  of  the 
day  knew  nothing.  They  saw  simply  a  settlement 
in  the  heart  of  Western  Christendom  of  men  who 
had,  for  a  hundred  years  past,  been  slaughtering  and 
ravaging  over  Christian  lands.  The  French  spoke 
of  them  for  years  to  come  as  "  pirates,"  and  called 
their  chieftain  "the  Pirates'  Duke."  England  nat- 
urally looked  on  them  as  a  political  danger  of  the 
gravest  sort.  The  growing  extension  of  their  terri- 
tory along  the  coast  fronted  her  southern  shore  with 
a  Danelaw  more  powerful  than  the  Danelaw  she  had 
struck  down ;  a  Danelaw  which  threatened  the  hold 
of  England  on  the  Channel,  and  cut  off  its  commu- 


238       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiAP^v.  nications  with  the  rest  of  Christendom.  Powerful, 
The     too,  as  Hrolf's  duchy  was  in  itself,  it  was  yet  more 

mtred.  formidable  as  giving  a  new  centre  to  the  energy  of 

90^937.  ^^'^^  Northmen.  Beneath  all  the  wild  talk  of  the  ear- 
—  liest  Norman  chroniclers,  we  see  that  Normandy  be- 
came from  the  first  the  centre  of  the  pirates'  life.  If 
the  boast  that  English  and  Irish  obeyed  the  com- 
mands of  William  Longsword,  or  the  dukes  that  fol- 
lowed him,  may  be  safely  set  aside,  it  points  to  a 
real  influence  which  the  dukes  wielded  over  the  body 
of  the  Danes  in  England  as  in  Ireland.  It  was  this 
unity  of  life  and  action  among  the  Northmen  which 
made  Normandy  so  formidable  a  foe.  Every  pirate 
settlement  was  in  a  state  of  constant  ebb  and  flow. 
The  Northman  w^ho  fought  to-day  on  the  Liffey 
might  settle  to-morrow  on  the  Trent,  while  a  year 
after  he  might  be  ravaging  along  the  Seine  or  the 
Rhine.  That  Hrolf's  men  were  tilling  their  lands 
in  the  Bessin  or  the  Pays  de  Caux  gave  no  surety 
that  when  harvest  was  gathered  in  their  boats  might 
not  be  swarming  in  the  H umber  or  the  Colne.  And 
with  help  such  as  this  the  work  of  the  house  of  Al- 
fred might  be  undone  in  an  hour ;  for,  conquered  as 
it  was,  the  Danelaw  waited  only  for  the  call  of  Nor- 
man or  Ostman  to  rise  against  its  conquerors. 

£ug/is/i       From  the  moment  of  their  settlement,  therefore, 

alUiiiices. 

at  the  mouth  of  the  Seine,  the  eyes  of  the  English 
kings  had  been  fixed  anxiously  on  the  Normans ; 
and  the  result  of  their  anxiety  had  already  been  seen 
in  the  birth  of  a  foreign  policy.  It  was  dread  of  the 
Normans  which  first  drew  England  into  connection 
with  lands  beyond  the  sea.  Northward,  eastward, 
and  southward  the  Norman  pressure  was  felt  by  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       239 

states  which  girt  in  the  new  duchy,  by  Flanders  and  chap.  v. 
Vermandois,  as  by  the  great  French  dukedom  and     The 
the  wilder  Bretons.    All  had  in  turn  felt  the  Norman   jgifred. 
sword ;  all  dreaded,  even  more  than  England  itself,  goJI^T. 
attack  from  Normandy ;  and  all  sought  to  strength- 
en  themselves  against  it  by  bonds  of  kinship  and  di- 
plomacy.     While  facing  the  Danes  at  home,  the 
English    kings    had    sought    to   guard   themselves 
against  attack  from  abroad  by  joining  in  this  move- 
ment of  union.     The  marriage  of  Alfred's  daugh- 
ter, ^Ifthryth,  with  Count  Baldwin,  of  Flanders,  was 
the  first  instance  of  a  system  of  marriage  alliances 
which  the  English  kings  directed  from  this  moment 
against  the  common  foe ;  and  the  same  purpose  may 
be  seen   in   the  marriage  of   Eadward's  daughter, 
Eadgif u,  with  the  Frankish  king,  Charles  the  Simple.' 

i^thelstan  not  only  adopted  his  father's  P^^'^^Y^ s/^/ff^'^/ 
but  carried  it  out  on  a  far  wider  scale.  He  had  M^'^y- 
hardly  mounted  the  throne  when  he  wedded  one  of 
his  sisters,  Eadgyth,  to  Otto,  the  son  of  the  German 
king  Henry,"  and  two  years  later  a  fresh  political 
marriage  linked  him  to  a  power  nearer  home.  The 
second  marriage  followed  on  a  change  which  passed 
at  this  moment  over  French  politics.  Whatever 
hopes  of  aid  against  the  Normans  ^thelstan  may 
have  drawn  from  his  sister's  marriage  with  Charles 
were  foiled  by  the  claim  to  the  Frankish  crown  which 
was  now  made  by  Rudolf  of  Burgundy,  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Duke  Hugh  of  Paris ;  for  this  fresh  attack 
of  the  Parisian  house  necessarily  threw  Charles  back 

'  Will  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  197. 

'  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  924.    "Offae  Eald  Seaxna  cynges  suna." 
But  see,  for  date,  Lappenberg,  Hist.  Angl.  Sax.  ii.  134. 


240       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  V.  on  his  old  policy  of  seeking  aid  from  the  pirates  at 
The     Rouen.    The  English  king,  therefore,  turned  at  once 

^?fred.^  to  the  house  which  this  new  phase  of  politics  marked 

90^937.  o^^  ^s  ^^^  pirates'  foe;  and  in  926  a  marriage  was 
—  arranged,  through  the  intervention  of  the  Count  of 
Boulogne,  the  son  of  Baldwin  of  Flanders  and  the 
English  ^Ifthryth,  between  -^thelstan's  sister  Ead- 
hild  and  Hugh  the  Great.'  The  splendid  embassy 
with  which  the  Duke  of  Paris  sought  Eadhild's  hand 
shows  the  political  importance  of  the  match  ;  and  its 
weight  may  have  told  on  the  renewal  of  the  strug- 
gle, between  Rudolf  and  Charles,  which  followed  it. 
But  it  told  more  directly  on  the  strength  of  England 
by  absorbing  the  forces  of  William  Longsword  in 
the  years  during  which  -^thelstan  was  annexing  the 
Danelaw  over  the  H umber,  and  turning  into  a  prac- 
tical sovereignty  his  supremacy  over  the  Welsh. 

^thehtaii     Abroad,  therefore,  ^thelstan's  schemes  seemed 

and  Will-  '  •      T-  1  f     1 

iam  Loug-2,^  succcssful  as  at  homc.  His  French  confederates 
not  only  held  their  own  against  the  Karolingian  king, 
but  gave  full  occupation  to  the  Norman  duke.  In 
929,  indeed,  the  death  of  Charles  the  Simple  left  Will- 
iam Lpngsword  alone  in  the  face  of  his  foes.  Ru- 
dolf was  now  the  unquestioned  master  of  France ; 
and  in  the  following  year  his  victory  over  the  North- 
men of  the  Loire  was  a  signal  for  a  combined  attack 
on  the  Normans  of  the  Seine.  While  Hugh  the 
Great  pressed  them  from  the  south,  the  Bretons,  over 
whom  Hrolf  and  his  son  had  asserted  vague  claims 
of  supremacy,  and  from  whom  they  had  wrested  the 
Bessin,  put  the  Norman  colonies  in  the  newly-won 
land  to  the  sword  and  attacked  Bayeux.  But  the 
*  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  216,  217. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       24 1 

hopes  of  ^thelstan  were  foiled  by  the  vigor  of  Will-  chap.  v. 
iam  Longsword.  Not  only  were  the  Bretons  swept  The 
.  back  from  the  Bessin,  but  their  land  of  the  Coten-  "^fred!' 
tin,  the  great  peninsula  that  juts  into  the  British  90^1^37. 
Channel,  became  Norman  ground,  while  their  lead-  — 
er,  Alan,  fled  over  sea  to  the  English  court/  The 
choice  of  his  refuge  points  to  the  quarter  from  whence 
this  attack  on  Normandy  had  probably  come.  If 
direct  attack,  however,  had  broken  down,  yEthelstan 
was  more  fortunate  in  the  skill  with  which  he  wove 
a  web  of  alliances  round  the  Norman  land.  Flan- 
ders was  already  knit  to  the  new  England  through 
Count  Arnulf,  a  grandson  of  Alfred,  like  ^Ethelstan 
himself.  The  Count  of  Vermandois  was  on  close 
terms  with  the  English  king.  The  friendship  of 
the  Parisian  duchy  came  with  the  marriage  of  Duke 
Hugh;  while  Brittany  was  still  at  the  king's  ser- 
vice, and  yEthelstan  could  despatch  Alan  again  to 
carry  fresh  forays  over  the  Norman  border.  Already 
troubled  with  strife  within  his  own  country,  William 
Longsword  saw  a  ring  of  foes  close  round  him  and 
threaten  a  renewal  of  the  struggle  for  life.  But  the 
quickness  and  versatility  of  the  duke  were  seen  in 
the  change  of  front  with  which  he  met  this  danger. 
The  claims  of  the  Karolingian  house  on  his  fidelity 
had  ceased  with  the  death  of  Charles  the  Simple; 
no  Karoling  claimant  for  the  throne  appeared,  and 
William  was  able,  without  breach  of  faith,  to  sell  his 
adhesion  to  Rudolf  of  Burgundy.  By  doing  hom- 
age to  Rudolf,  in  933,  he  not  only  won  peace  with 

^  Alan  was  Eadward's  ward,  and  had  come,  in  931,  from  the  Eng- 
lish court.  See  Lappenberg,  ii.  138,  with  the  note,  and  p.  107,  with 
note. 

16 


242       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.V.  the  Parisian  dukes,  but  a  formal  cession  of  his  new 
The     conquests  in  the  Cotentin ;  and  the  dissolution  of 

^mhJ^  the  league  left  him  free  to  deal  with  ^thelstan. 

90^937  ^^  descent  of  the  Ostmen  from  Ireland  on  the 
—     shores  of  Northumbria  warned  the  English  king  of 

revolt  of  William's  power  to  vex  the  land;  and  while  it  woke 
briar'  fresh  dreams  of  revolt  in  the  Danelaw,  encouraged 
the  Scot  king,  Constantine,  to  weave  anew  the  threads 
of  the  older  confederacy  against  the  English  king.' 
In  934,'  though  the  presence  of  the  northern  primate 
and  some  of  the  Danish  jarls  at  his  court  show  that 
Northumbria  still  remained  true  to  him,'  the  grow- 
ing disturbance  forced  ^thelstan  to  march  with  an 
army  into  the  north,*  and  to  send  a  fleet  to  harry  the 
Scottish  coast.  But  its  ravages,  if  they  forced  Con- 
stantine to  a  fresh  submission,  failed  to  check  his  in- 
trigues, or  to  hinder  him  from  leaguing  with  Eadred 
of  Bernicia  and  the  Irish  Ostmen  to  stir  up  a  fresh 
rising  of  the  Danelaw.  With  the  Ostmen  Constan- 
tine was  closely  connected  through  their  leader,  An- 
laf  or  Olaf,  a  son  of  the  Northumbrian  king,  Sihtric, 
who  had  found  refuge  at  the  Scottish  court  on  his 
father's  death,  and  on  ^thelstan's  annexation  of  his 

*  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  i.  352. 

*  Eng.  Chron,  (Wore),  a.  934 ;  (Winch.),  a.  933. 

'  The  grant  to  Worcester  just  before  his  march  against  "  Anolafa 
rege  Norrannorum  qui  me  vita  et  regno  privare  disponit "  (Cod.  Dip. 
349)  is  attested  by  "  Rodewoldus  archiepiscopus "  (a  blunder  for 
Wulfstan)  and  "  Healden  dux."  Wulfstan  is  again  present  in  a  Wit- 
enagemot  at  Frome  at  the  close  of  the  year,  on  the  king's  return 
from  the  north,  December,  934;  but  no  northern  names  appear 
among  the  duces. — Cod.  Dip.  11 10. 

*  Sim.  Durh.,  Hist.  Dunelm.  Eccl.  lib.  ii.  c.  18  (Twysden,  p.  25). 
"  Fugato  deinde  Oswino  rege  Cumbrorum  et  Constantino  rege  Scot- 
torum  terrestri  et  navali  exercitu  Scotiam  sibi  subjugando  perdo- 
muit." 


THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  243 

realm.     Constantine   had  first   shown    the   change  chap^v. 
which  had  taken  place  in  his  poHtical  sympathies  by     The 
giving  Olaf  his  daughter  to  wife ;'  and  after  the  ear-  jEifred. 
lier  failure  of  their  plans  Olaf  had  sailed  to  Ireland,  9oi~937. 
and,  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Ostmen,  again     — 
lent  himself  to  the  plots  of  the  Scottish  king.     The 
influence  of  Olaf  was  seen  in  the  withdrawal  of  the 
northern  jarls  from  the  English  court  within  a  year 
or  two  after  the  campaign  of  934  f  and  when,  in  937, 
he  appeared  with  a  fleet  off  the  Northumbrian  coast, 
the  whole  league  at  once  rose  in  arms.     The  men 
of  the  northern  Danelaw  found  themselves  backed 
not  only  by  their  brethren  from  Ireland,  but  by  the 
mass  of  states  around  them — by  the  English  of  Ber- 
nicia,  by  the  Scots  under  Constantine,  by  the  Welsh- 
men of  Cumbria  or  Strathclyde.     It  is  the  steady 
recurrence  of  these  confederacies  which  makes  the 
struggle  so  significant.     The  old  distinctions  and 
antipathies  of  race  must  have  already,  in  great  part, 
passed  away  before  peoples  so  diverse  could  have 
been  gathered  into  one  host  by  a  common  dread  of 
subjection,  and  the  motley  character  of  the  army 
pointed  forward  to  that  fusion  of  both  Northman 
and  Briton  in  the  general  body  of  the  English  race 
which  was  to  be  the  work  of  the  coming  years. 

At  the  news  of  this  rising,  ^thelstan  again  marched  ^^^/^^^/^' 
into  the  north.     He  met  his  enemies  on  the  unknown 
field  of  Brunanburh,"  and  one  of  the  noblest  of  Eng- 

^  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  i.  352. 

^  We  find  no  Danish  names  among  the  attesting  duces  through- 
out the  rest  of  ^thelstan's  reign. 

^  The  Winchester  and  other  Chronicles  insert  under  937  the  first 
of  the  four  poems  which  treat  of  the  annals  of  this  period,  the  Song 
of  Brunanburh.  The  only  other  detailed  account  of  the  strife  is  in 
the  Egils  Saga  (in  Johnstone,  Antiq.  Celto-Scandicae,  p.  42,  etc.); 


244  THE   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  V.  lish  war-songs  has  preserved  the  memory  of  the  fight 
The  that  went  on  from  sunrise  to  sunset.  The  stubborn- 
^?fred.  ne.ss  of  the  combat  proves  that  brave  men  fought  on 
901^7.  either  side.  The  shield-wall  of  the  Northmen  stood 
long  against  the  swords  of  ^thelstan  and  his  brother 
Eadmund ;  the  Scots  fought  on  till  they  were  "weary 
with  war."  But  the  West  Saxons,  "  in  bands  of  cho- 
sen ones,"  hewed  their  way  steadily  through  the  mass- 
es of  their  foe,  their  Mercian  fellow-warriors  *'  refused 
not  the  hard  hand-play,"  and  at  sunset  the  motley 
host  broke  in  wild  flight.  "  The  Danes,"  shouts  the 
exulting  singer,  "  had  no  ground  for  laughter  when 
they  played  on  the  field  of  slaughter  with  Eadward's 
children."  Five  of  their  kings  and  seven  of  their  jarls 
lay  among  the  countless  dead.  Olaf '  only  saved  his 
life  by  hastily  shoving  out  his  boat  to  sea  and  steer- 
ing for  Dublin  with  the  remnant  of  his  men,  while 
Constantine  left  his  son  covered  with  death-wounds 
in  the  midst  of  his  slaughtered  war-band.  The  old 
king's  faithlessness  had  stirred  a  special  hatred  in 
the  conquerors.  "  There  fled  he — wise  as  he  was — 
to  his  northern  land !  No  cause  had  he,  the  hoary 
fighting  man,  for  gladness  in  that  fellowship  of 
swords !  no  cause  had  he,  the  gray-haired  lord,  the 
old  deceiver, for  boastfulness  in  the  bill-crashing."' 

but  the  saga  is  of  too  late  a  date  and  too  romantic  a  character  to  be 
used  as  an  historical  authority.  The  site  of  Brunanburh  is  still  un- 
determined. Mr.  Skene  (Celtic  Scotland,  i.  357)  would  fix  it  at  Aid- 
borough  ;  but  Mr.  Freeman  and  Professor  Stubbs  abandon  the  effort 
to  localize  it  in  despair.  The  "  Brunanburh  "  of  the  song  becomes 
in  the  saga  "  Vinheidi,"  and  in  Simeon  of  Durham  (Gest.  Reg.  and 
Hist.  Dunelm.)  "  Wendune  "  and  "  Weondune."  Flor.  of  Worcester 
places  it  by  the  mouth  of  the  Humber. 

^  Skene  distinguishes  this  Olaf  of  Dublin  from  Olaf,  Sihtric's  son, 
who  seems  to  have  returned  to  Scotland  with  Constantine. — Celtic 
Scotland,  i.  357.  »  Eng.  Chron.  a.  937. 


severance 
of  the 
North. 


y'  OC  THR       ■<^ 


CHAPTER   VI. 

WESSEX   AND   THE    DANELAW. 
937-955. 

From  the  battle-field  of  Brunanburh,  where  "  dun  The 
kite  and  swart  raven  and  greedy  war-hawk"  were  of  the 
sharing  the  corpses  with  the  "gray  wolf  of  the 
wood,"  ^thelstan  turned  with  a  glory  such  as  no 
English  king  had  won.  The  fight,  sang  his  court- 
singer,'  was  a  fight  such  as  had  never  been  seen  by 
Englishmen,  "  since  from  the  east  Engle  and  Saxon 
sought  Britain  over  the  broad  sea."  A  hundred 
years  later,  indeed,  men  still  called  it  "  the  great 
fight." '  Nor  was  the  victory  a  doubtful  one.  "  The 
two  brothers,  king  and  aetheling,  sought  their  own 
land,  the  land  of  the  West  Saxons,  exulting  in  the 
war."  But,  victory  as  it  was,  Brunanburh  marks  the 
beginning  of  a  great  defeat.  The  national  union 
which  had  been  conceived  by  Alfred,  and  partially 
carried  out  by  Eadward  and  ^^thelstan,  could  only 
be  embodied  in  the  king  himself;  it  was  only  by  a 
common  obedience  to  one  who  was  at  once  King  of 
the  West  Saxons,  King  of  the  Mercians,  King  of  tl\e 
Northumbrians,  and  Lord  of  the  Jarls  of  Mid-Britain, 
that  West  Saxon,  Mercian,  Northumbrian,  and  Dane 
could  forget  their  distinctions  of  locality  and  race, 

*  Eng.  Chron.  a.  937.  "  ^thelweard,  lib.  iv.  c.  5. 


246  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VI.  and  blend  in  a  common  England.     Such  a  three- 
wessex  fold  kingship  and  lordship  of  the  Dane  ^Ethelstan 
Dft^neiaw.  had  won  in  his  earliest  years  of  rule ;  and  the  years 
937^55.  ^^  peace  which  had  passed  since  the  submission  of 
—      Northumbria  seemed  the  beginning  of  a  time   of 
national  union.     But  with  the  rising  under  Olaf  the 
prospect  of  union  vanished  like  a  dream.      Van- 
quished  as   it  was,  Northumbria  was   still   strong 
enough  to  tear  itself  away  from  the  king's  personal 
grasp,  and  to  force  ^thelstan  to  restore  its  old  un- 
der-kingship,  with  the  isolated  life  which  that  king- 
ship embodied.     The  hard  fighting  of  his  successors, 
if  it  forced  the  north  to  own  their  supremacy,  never 
succeeded  in  bringing  it  again  within  their  personal 
sovereignty:    the    under -kingdom   was,  indeed,  re- 
placed later  by  an  earldom,  but  the  land  remained 
almost  as  much  apart  from  the  kingdom  at  large 
under  earl  as  under  under-king;    and  on  the  very 
eve  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  no  king's  writ  ran  in 
the  Northumbria  of  Siward. 
The  system      f  ^^  scvcrancc  of  the  north,  in  fact,  was  the  first 

of  e aid  or-  ^  ^  '  ' 

manries.  step  in  a  proccss  of  reaction  which  was  to  undo  much 
that  the  house  of  Alfred  had  done.  The  growth  of 
the  monarchy,  aided  as  it  w^as  by  the  strife  against 
the  Dane  and  by  the  personal  energy  of  the  kings 
themselves,  had  carried  it  beyond  the  actual  bounds 
of  English  feeling.  The  national  sentiment  which 
the  war  had  created,  real  as  it  was,  was  as  yet  too 
weak  to  set  utterly  aside  the  tradition  of  local  inde- 
pendence, and  to  look  solely  to  a  national  king.  It 
had  carried  the  monarchy,  too,  beyond  the  actual  pos- 
sibilities of  government.  Government,  as  we  have 
seen  in  i^thelstan's  efforts  to  restore  order  in  Wes- 


THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  247 

sex,  rested,  from  the  very  necessities  of  the  time,  on  chap,  vi. 
the  presence  and  personal  action  of  the  king.  The  wessex 
administrative  machinery  by  which  later  rulers.  Nor-  Danelaw, 
m.an  or  Angevin,  brought  the  land  within  the  grasp  93^55. 
of  a  central  power  was  still  but  in  its  beginning. 
Their  great  creation  of  a  judicial  machinery  for  the 
same  purpose  had  as  yet  hardly  an  existence.  The 
disorder  which  taxed  the  king's  energies  south  of 
the  Thames  must  have  been  even  greater  in  the 
tract  over  which  the  war  had  rolled  to  the  north  of 
it ;  and  his  occasional  visits  to  Mercia  or  the  Dane- 
law could  give  little  of  the  succor  which  Wessex  felt 
from  his  presence  within  it.  It  was  the  weight  of 
these  political  and  administrative  needs  that  was  felt 
in  the  second  decisive  step  towards  the  disintegra- 
tion of  the  realm,  the  creation  of  the  great  ealdor- 
manries.  -Alfred,  indeed,  had  led  the  way  in  this 
creation  by  his  raising  -^thelred  into  the  Ealdorman 
of  English  Mercia.  But  the  danger  of  such  a  meas- 
ure at  once  disclosed  itself;  for  though  ^thelred 
acted  strictly  as  an  officer  of  the  king,  summoning 
the  witan  by  his  license,  and  seeking  confirmation 
from  him  for  judgment  or  grant,  yet  the  tradition  of 
local  kingship  and  of  individual  life  in  the  country 
itself  raised  him  into  a  power  which  Eadward  felt 
to  be  inconsistent  with  any  union  of  the  peoples 
round  a  common  king.  At  ^thelred  s  death,  there- 
fore, he  found  no  successor ;  and  on  the  death  of  the 
Lady,  his  wife,  Mercia  was  taken  under  the  direct 
rule  of  the  crown.  The  policy  of  Eadward  was  in 
his  earlier  years  the  policy  of  ^^thelstan  himself. 
There  was  no  restoration  of  the  Mercian  ealdorman, 
still  less  any  indication  of  the  extension  of  the  sys- 


937-955. 


Its  limita 
tions. 


248       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  tern  over  other  parts  of  the  realm.  With  the  shock 
wessex  of  Brunanburh,  however,  and  with  the  renewed  iso- 
Daneiaw.  lation  of  northern  Britain,  such  an  extension  seems 
to  have  become  inevitable ;  and  it  was  in  the  later 
years  of  .^thelstan,  or  in  the  short  reign  of  Ead- 
mund  which  followed,  that  we  find  the  system  of 
ealdormanries  adopted  as  a  necessary  part  of  the 
organization  of  Britain. 

But  though  this  revival  of  the  old  political  divis- 
ions seemed  the  only  form  of  organization  open  to 
the  English  kings,  their  subsequent  measures  show 
that  they  were  not  blind  to  its  defects.  If  the  ear- 
lier kingdoms  were  restored,  the  place  of  the  king 
in  each  was  taken  by  an  ealdorman,  who,  however 
independent  and  powerful  he  might  be,  was  still 
named  by  the  West-Saxon  sovereign,  and  could  be 
deposed  by  that  ruler  and  the  national  Witan  ;  while 
his  relation  to  the  folk  he  governed  was  that  of  a 
stranger,  and  had  none  of  the  strength  which  the 
older  kings  had  drawn  from  their  position  as  repre- 
sentatives of  the  blood  of  their  races.  In  the  sec- 
ond place,  these  ealdormen  were  bound  to  the  West- 
Saxon  throne  by  their  own  royal  West-Saxon  blood.' 
As  we  have  seen,  the  growth  of  Wessex  had  been 
simply  an  extension  of  the  West-Saxon  race,  and  as 
a  result  of  this  its  various  divisions  had  been  com- 
mitted to  the  charge  of  ealdormen  chosen  from  the 
one  royal  stock.  Different  as  were  the  circum- 
stances before  them,  ^thelstan  or  Eadmund  fol- 
lowed the  tradition  of  their  house  in  committing  the 
states  of  Mid -Britain  to  ealdormen  of  their  own 
blood.      Such  an   arrangement  seemed  a  security 

*  Robertson,  Hist.  Essays,  "  The  King's  Kin." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       249 

against  their  reviving  the  claims  of  the  folks  they  chap.vi. 
ruled  to  their  old  national  independence,  and  in  this   wessex 
respect  it  was  certainly  successful,  for  from  this  time  Danelaw, 
we  hear  of  no  attempt  on  the  part  of  any  of  these  93^55 
states  to  break   away  from  the   common   English     — 
realm.     But,  on  the  other  hand,  as  the  history  of 
Wessex  itself  in  the  past  had  shown,  it  brought  with 
it  another  danger.      These   princes   of  the   blood, 
with  the  weight  of  their  states  behind  them,  could 
bring  heavy  pressure  to  bear  on  the  royal  govern- 
ment.     Their  kinship  drew  them  into  close  rela- 
tions with  the  court,  which  soon  became  the  scene 
of  their  struggle  for  supremacy  and  of  their  mutual 
rivalries,  until  the  anarchy  of  early  Wessex  was  re- 
produced in  that  of  England  under  ^thelred  the 
Second. 

The  aim  of  the  crown  in  creating  the  first  of  these  Cre^^ion 
great  ealdormanries,  that  of  East  Anglia,'  was  prob-   eastern 
ably  to  weaken  the  Danelaw  by  detaching  from  it'^'^  r^T''' 
all  that  was  least  Danish,  and  that  could  be  thor- 
oughly re-Anglicized  as  a  portion  of  the   English 
realm.      The  ealdordom  was   intrusted  to   ^^thel- 
stan,  a  noble  of  the  royal  kin,''  and  stretched  far  be- 
yond East  Anglia  itself  to  include  the  old  country 

'  The  date  of  its  creation  is  really  uncertain ;  but  Lappenberg, 
from  the  Hist,  of  Ramsey,  assigns  it  to  ^thelstan's  reign. 

'  He  "exchanged  his  patrimonial  forty  hides  in  his  native  prov- 
ince of  Devon  for  the  forty  hides  at  Hatfield,  which  Eadgar  gave 
to  Ordmaer  and  his  wife." — Robertson,  Hist.  Essays,  p.  179.  His 
father's  name  was  ^thelred  (Cod.  Dip.  338),  but  this  "can  hardly 
be  the  king  of  that  name  who  died  eighty -five  years  before  the 
name  of  ^thelstan  is  missed  from  the  charters."  He  may  have 
been  his  grandson,  ^thelstan's  name  "is  found  in  connection 
with  the  charters  of  his  great  namesake." — Robertson,  Hist.  Essays, 
p.  1 80,  with  note. 


250       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^vi.  of  the  Gyrwas  about  the  fens/  with  perhaps  North- 
wessex  amptonshire,  and  the  district  of  Kesteven.     Probably 
Danelaw,  about  the  same  time  was  created  the  ealdormanry 
ggiJI^gg   of  the  East  Saxons,  by  the  elevation  of  ^Ifgar,  the 
—     father  of  Eadmund's  queen,  ^thelflaed,  at  Domer- 
ham,"  who  was  succeeded  by  Byrhtnoth  as  husband 
of  his  daughter,  ^Iflaed.     Essex'  seems  to  have  in- 
cluded, besides  the  shire  of  that  name,  those  of  Ox- 
ford and   Buckingham,  and  also   possibly   that   of 
Middlesex  with  London/     Taken  together,  the  two 
ealdormanries  formed,  in  fact,  the  kingdom  of  Guth- 
rum  in  its  largest  extent,  and  as  the  East-Saxon  eal- 
dormen,  whether  from  kinship  or  no,  seem  to  have 
uniformly  acted  in  union  with  those  of  East  Anglia, 
^thelstan   became  practically  lord  of   all  eastern 
Britain,  and  his  nickname  of  the  "  Half-king  "  shows 
that  he  was  soon  recognized  as  a  force  almost  equal 
to  that  of  the  crown. 
Eric         In  the  years  that  followed  Brunanburh,  however, 
ax7    even  if  any  ealdormanry  were  as  yet  created,  the 
results  of  its  creation  were  unseen;  and  the  care  of 

^  "  The  diocese  of  Dorchester,  as  it  existed  in  the  tenth  century, 
though  once  a  portion  of  the  Mercian  kingdom,  was  not  included 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Mercian  ealdorman.  The  shires  of 
Bedford,  Hertford,  Cambridge,  Huntingdon,  and  Northampton,  with 
the  district  of  Kesteven,  seem  to  have  belonged  to  the  ealdordom 
of  ^thelwine  of  East  Anglia ;  and  as  in  the  reign  of  ^thelred  the 
reeves  of  Oxford  and  Buckingham  were  brought  to  task  by  Leof- 
sige,  Ealdorman  of  Essex,  the  remainder  of  the  diocese  would  appear 
to  have  been  placed  under  the  ealdorman  of  the  East  Saxons." — 
Robertson,  Hist.  Essays,  p.  181.  The  boundaries  of  the  eastern  eal- 
dormanries, however,  must  be  regarded  as  very  uncertain. 

=  ^Ifgar  died  about  951-953. — Robertson.  Hist.  Essays,  p.  189 ;  E. 
Chron.  a.  946.  ^  See  note,  ante. 

*  This,  however,  is  only  an  inference  from  facts  in  themselves  un- 
certain. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       25 1 

^thelstan  was  centred  mainly  in  the  north.  As  we  c¥ap^vi. 
have  said,  his  victory  was  far  from  restoring  his  wessex 
original  rule.  Though  eight  years  had  passed  since  Danelaw, 
he  "took  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians,"  937I965. 
the  rising  under  Olaf  showed  that  the  attempt  at  a 
real  union  was  premature,  that  the  Danelaw  over 
Humber  could  only  still  be  governed  through  a  sub- 
ject king,  and  he  a  king  of  northern  blood.  Such  a 
king,  however,  ^^thelstan  had  ready  to  hand.  His 
diplomacy  had  long  been  as  busy  in  the  north  as  in 
the  south ;  and  he  seems  to  have  aimed  at  finding 
aid  against  the  Danes  by  seeking  the  friendship 
of  the  new  power  which  had  risen  up  among  the 
Northmen  of  Norway.  Harald  Fairhair  had  died 
in  a  hoar  old  age  on  the  eve  of  Brunanburh ;  and, 
though  his  kingdom  was  disputed  among  his  sons, 
Eric  Bloody-axe  got  mastery  of  most  of  it.  Eric 
is  one  of  the  few  figures  who  stand  out  distinct  for 
us  from  the  historic  darkness  which  covers  the  north. 
"  Stout  and  comely,  strong  and  very  manly,  a  great 
and  lucky  man  of  war,  but  evil-minded,  gruff,  un- 
friendly, and  silent,"  '  he  and  his  witch-wife,  Gunhild, 
whom  he  had  found,  said  the  legend,  in  the  hut  of 
two  Lapp  sorcerers,  embodied  all  the  violence  and 
guile  that  mingled  with  the  nobler  temper  of  the 
Northmen.  He  was  but  a  boy  of  twelve  when  his 
father  gave  him  five  long-ships,  and  his  next  four 
years  were  spent  in  Wiking  cruises  in  the  Baltic 
and  the  northern  seas.  "  Then  he  sailed  out  into 
the  West  Sea,  and  plundered  in  Scodand,  Bretland, 
Ireland,  and  Walland,"  our  France,  for  four  years 

*  Harald  Fairhair's  Saga;  Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  313. 


252       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  more.    A  raid  on  the  Finns  ended  these  early  cruises, 
wessex  and  won  him  Gunhild;   and,  still  on  the  brink   of 

rTneUw.  manhood,  he  came  home  to  be  welcomed  by  Harald 

937^66  Fairhair  as  his  successor  on  the  throne  of  Norway. 
—  With  his  brothers,  w^ho  stood  in  his  way,  he  dealt 
roughly.  Rognwald,  who  was  charged  with  witch- 
craft, "  he  burned  in  a  house  along  with  eighty  other 
warlocks,  which  work  was  much  praised."  Biorn, 
the  merchant-king,  he  slew  drinking  at  his  board. 
But  a  younger  brother,  Hakon,  still  remained,  and 
when  Hakon,  at  his  father's  death,  promised  the 
bonders  their  old  udal  rights  back  again,  Norway 
broke  out  in  revolt.  "  The  news  "  that  their  rights 
were  once  more  their  own  "  flew  like  fire  in  dry 
grass  through  the  whole  land;'"  all  men  streamed 
to  Hakon;  and  Eric,  left  alone,  had  to  give  up  the 
strife,  and  "  sail  out  into  the  western  seas  with  such 
as  would  follow  him." 
Eric  set       It  was  in  the  days  after  Brunanburh  that  Eric's 

'^«^'^2'^" plunder- raid  brought  him  to  the  shores  of  North- 
umbria;  and  ^thelstan  seized  the  chance  of  balanc- 
ing the  Danish  element  in  Northumbria  by  the  Nor- 
wegian element  that  was  mingled  with  it.'  A  bargain 
was  soon  struck,  by  which  Eric  submitted  to  bap- 
tism with  all  his  house,  and  received  the  kingdom 
of  Northumbria  at  ^thelstan's  hand  on  pledge  to 
guard  it  against  Danes  or  other  Wikings.'  Little 
as  we  know  of  the  Danelaw,  we  see  that  the  life  he 

^  Hakon  the  Good's  Saga ;  Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  315. 

^  In  924  the  peoples  in  Northumbria  who  "  bowed  "  to  Eadward 
are  separately  named,  "either  English,  or  Danes,  or  Northmen." — 
Eng.  Chron.  a.  924. 

3  For  Eric,  see  Sagas  of  Harald  Fairhair  and  of  Hakon  the  Good 
(Laing.Sea  Kings,i.3oi-3o6,3i  1-316);  also  Saga  of  Egil  Skallagrimson. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


253 


found  there  was  a  life  as  northern  as  that  of  his  own  chap.  vi. 
northern  lands,  for  "  Northumbria,"  runs  the  saga,   w^ex 
"  was  mainly  inhabited  by  Northmen.     Since  Lod-  DSfeUw. 
brog's  sons  had  taken  the  country,  Danes  and  North-  ^^^^ 
men  often  plundered  there,  when  the  power  of  the     — 
land  was  out  of  their  hands.  .  .  .  King  Eric,  too,  had 
many  people  about  him,  for  he  kept  many  Northmen 
who  had  come  with  him  from  the  east,  and  also  many 
of  his  friends  joined  him  from  Norway."     In  taking 
the  land  he  had  pledged  himself  to  hold  it "  against 
Danes  or  other  Wikings,"  and  had  received  bap- 
tism, "  together  with  his  wife  and  children  and  all 
his  people  who  had  followed  him."     But  pledge  and 
Christianity  sat  as  lightly  on  Eric  as  they  sat  on  his 
fellow- Northmen  in  the   Danelaw.     If  the   Danes 
had  settled  down  in  farm  and  homestead,  they  were 
long  before  they  ceased  to  vary  their  toil  with  the 
Wikings   plunder-raid;   and   Eric,  throned   as   he 
Was  at  York,  was,  like  his  subjects,  a  Wiking  at 
heart.     "  As  he  had  little  lands,  he  went  on  a  cruise 
every  summer,  and  plundered  in  Shetland,  the  Heb- 
rides, Iceland,  and  Bretland,  by  which  he  gathered 
goods." ' 

Though  i^thelstan's  rule  over  the  north  had  ^^^/x 
shrunk  from  a  real  sovereignty  into  a  vague  over-  overZa. 
lordship,  it  is  notable  that  his  efforts  from  this  mo- 
ment were  aimed  at  other  lands  than  the  Danelaw. 
He  still  remained  bent  on  the  ruin  of  the  power  which 
was  able  to  call  the  Danelaw  to  arms.  Even  in  the 
midst  of  his  struggle  for  life  with  the  great  confed- 
eracy of  the  north,  the  king  had  been  busy  planning 
a  more  formidable  attack  than  ever  on  the  Normans. 
*  Saga  of  Hakon  the  Good ;  Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  316,  317. 


254  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

cHAp^vr.  During  his  father's  last  misfortunes,  Lewis,  the  child 
wessex  of  Charles  the  Simple  and  of  the  king's  sister  yEld- 
Dwieiaw.  gifu,  had  found  with  his  mother  a  refuge  in  Eng- 
937^55.  ^^^^'  ^^^  ^^^  grown  up  at  his  uncle's  court.  When 
—  Rudolf  died,  and  Hugh  of  Paris,  with  a  cautious 
policy  which  time  was  to  reward,  refused  to  grasp 
the  crown,  the  hearts  of  the  West  Franks  turned  to 
the  young  Karoling  "  over-sea,"  and  at  Hugh's  insti- 
gation Lewis  was  chosen  for  their  king.  The  envoys 
who  were  sent,  in  936,  with  the  offer  of  the  crown 
found  ^thelstan  in  his  camp  at  York,  holding  down 
the  earlier  disaffection  of  the  Danelaw ;  but  the  king 
at  once  rode  to  the  south,  and  an  English  embassy 
crossed  the  Channel  to  prepare  for  the  return  of 
Lewis  to  his  father's  throne.  From  the  court  of 
Duke  Hugh  they  passed  to  the  court  of  William 
Longsword,  on  a  visit  memorable  as  the  first  in- 
stance of  direct  political  communication  between 
England  and  Normandy.  We  know  little  of  the  ne- 
gotiations which  ended  in  the  duke's  assent  to  the 
accession  of  the  Karoling.  William,  no  doubt,  saw 
through  the  aim  of  ^thelstan  in  his  nephew's  ele- 
vation ;  but  to  refuse  Lewis  was  to  set  a  stronger 
and  more  formidable  neighbor,  Hugh  the  Great,  on 
the  throne.  Through  the  life,  too,  of  Charles  the 
Simple,  the  Normans  had  been  the  great  support 
of  the  Karolingian  house ;  and  the  duke  may  have 
believed  that,  when  once  the  crown  was  on  his  brow, 
the  old  rivalry  of  the  house  of  Paris  would  again 
throw  the  son  of  Charles,  whatever  were  his  uncle's 
plans,  into  the  arms  of  the  Normans.  William,  at 
any  rate,  wrung  from  ^thelstan  a  heavy  price  for 
his  assent  to  his  nephew's  crowning.     Brittany  had 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       255 

been  one  of  the  king's  readiest  weapons  against  the  chap.vi. 
Normans  ;  and  Alan,  with  a  train  of  Breton  refugees,   wessex 
was  still  at  the  English  court     But  peace  was  now  D^aneiaw. 
arranged  between  Breton  and  Norman,  and  Alan,  93^5^ 
returning   to  his    native    land,  pledged  himself   to     — 
keep  peace  with  William  Longsword. 

With  what  aims  ^thelstan  had  set  his  nephew  Lewis  attd 
on  the  French  throne,  the  action  of  Lewis  was  to 
show.  The  boy  had  sworn  to  follow  the  counsels  of 
his  nobles,  and  in  the  first  days  of  his  reign  he  sub- 
mitted to  the  guidance  of  Duke  Hugh.  But  the 
victory  of  Brunanburh  soon  followed  his  return,  and 
i^thelstan  was  now  free  to  give  his  whole  support  to 
his  nephew's  cause.  The  certainty  of  English  aid  at 
once  gave  a  new  energy  to  the  young  king's  action. 
He  broke  utterly  from  his  father's  policy.  Instead 
of  relying  on  the  Normans  against  the  pressure  of 
the  house  of  Paris,  he  stood'  aloof  from  both  these 
powers.  He  declared  himself  independent  of  Hugh, 
and  summoned  from  England  his  English  mother 
to  give  into  her  charge  his  royal  city  of  Laon.  The 
hand  of  the  English  king  was  seen  in  the  political 
combinations  that  followed  this  step.  Between  the 
lands  of  i^thelstan's  cousin,  Arnulf  of  Flanders,  and 
the  Norman  duchy  lay  the  county  of  Ponthieu, 
then  probably,  as  at  a  later  time,  an  outpost  of  the 
Norman  power.  In  939  Count  Herlwin  of  Ponthieu 
was  attacked  by  Arnulf,  his  city  of  Montreuil  taken, 
and  his  wife  and  children,  who  were  found  in  it,  sent 
as  prisoners  to  ^thelstan  "  to  be  kept  in  hold  over 
sea."  The  attack  was  possibly  made  with  the  aid  of 
an  English  fleet  which  we  shall  soon  see  busy  in  the 
Channel ;  and  that  it  was  really  aimed  at  the  Nor- 


256       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.vr.  mans  we  gather  from  the  action  of  their  duke,  for 
wessex  William  Longsword  at  once  marched  on  Montreuil, 
rTnekw.  recovered  the  town,  and  ravaged  Arnulf's  borders. 
937^55   ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  Arnulf,  however,  threatened  to  widen 
—     into  the  larger  contest  which   ^Ethelstan  had  no 
doubt  designed.     Lewis  drew  towards   the  foes  of 
the  Normans ;  his  bishops  excommunicated  William 
Longsword ;  and  their  sentence  seemed  the  prelude 
for  a  joint  attack  of  the  two  kings  and  the  count  on 
the  Northmen  in  France. 
Fai/ure       But,  at  the  momcnt  of  their  execution,  the  com- 
"/ea^i^/e^  biuatious  of  the  English  king  were  again  frustrated 
by  a  turn  in  Prankish  politics.     The  old  loyalty  of 
Lorraine  to  the  house  of  Charles  the  Great  revived 
at  the  sight  of  a  Karolingian  sovereign  at  Laon.    On 
the  coronation  of  Otto  as  King  of  the  East  Franks 
at  Aachen,  Lorraine  threw  off  the  German  rule ;  and 
though  Lewis  rejected  the  first  offer  of  its  allegiance, 
he  yielded  to  a  second.     The  war  with  Otto,  which 
naturally  followed,  drew  all  the  efforts  of  the  Frank- 
ish  king  from  Normandy  to  his  eastern  borderland, 
where  for  a  time  Lorraine  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Lewis.    But  his  winning  of  it  caused  a  sudden  change 
in   the  position  of  the  young  king  in   Frankland 
itself.     He  had  for  three  years  stood  aloof  from  the 
control  of  the  Parisian  duke,  and  now  the  addition 
of  Lorraine  to  his  realm  threatened  Hugh  with  a 
master  too  great  for  his  power  to  check.     Parisian 
duke  and  Norman  duke,  both  equally  threatened  by 
the  king,  drew  together  against  their  common  enemy 
at  the  moment  when  his  force  was  spent  by  the  con- 
test for  Lorraine ;  and  their  league  was  soon  joined 
by  a  prince  of  almost  equal  strength.     If  Arnulf 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  257 

of  Flanders  dreaded  the  growth  of  Normandy,  he  chap^vi. 
dreaded  vet   more   the    growth   of  a   royal   power   wessex 

1  if  .    ,  1-1  and  the 

strong  enough  to  curb  the  new  states  which  were  Danelaw, 
parting  western  Frankland  between  them ;  and  the  937^55. 
winning  of  Lorraine  by  the  young  king  drew  him, 
like  his  fellows,  into  revolt.  But,  though  the  ambi- 
tion of  Lewis  had  foiled  the  policy  of  ^thelstan-, 
the  king  clung  to  his  nephew's  cause.  When  rumors 
of  Arnulfs  approaching  defection  and  of  the  attack 
he  was  planning  on  Laon  reached  England,  an  Eng- 
lish fleet  with  forces  on  board  appeared  off  the  coast 
of  Boulogne.  Its  ravages,  however,  failed  to  turn 
Arnulf  from  his  purpose ;  and  on  the  news  that,  in 
the  face  of  these  dangers,  Lewis  was  still  fairly  hold- 
ing his  own  in  Lorraine,  it  fell  back  to  its  English 
harbor. 

The  recall  of  the  fleet  may  have  been  due  to  the  Eadmund. 
failing  health  of  i^thelstan ;  for  on  the  twenty-sev- 
enth of  October,  940,'  in  the  midst  of  these  wide 
projects,  the  king  died  at  Gloucester ;  and  the 
troubles  which  followed  the  succession  of  his  brother 
Eadmund  left  little  room  for  a  display  of  energy 
across  the  sea.  Though  he  had  fought  by  ^thel- 
stan's  side  at  Brunanburh,  Eadmund,  a  child  of  Ead- 
ward's  third  marriage  with  Eadgifu,''  was  a  youth  of 
eighteen  when  he  mounted  the  throne.  But  he  had 
already  a  policy  of  his  own,  and  that  a  policy  distinct 
from  the  system  of  yEthelstan."    "  He  was  no  friend 

1  So  the  later  Chronicles,  probably  from  a  lost  annal  in  the  Wor- 
cester copy.     The  Winchester  Chronicle  dates  it  941. 

^  ^thelstan  was  the  only  son  of  Eadward's  first  marriage ;  both 
his  sons  by  a  second  were  dead  ;  there  remained  two  young  sons 
by  his  third,  Eadmund  and  Eadred. 

'  In  ^thelstan's  later  years,  after  some  more  experiments,  such 

17 


258       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  to  the  Northmen,'"  or  to  the  system  of  balances  by 
wessex  which  his  brother  had  used  the  Norwegians  of  the 
DanVaw.  Danelaw  to  hold  down  the  Danes.     Eric,  too,  was  in 
937^55  "^  favor  with  him.     As  southern  England  became 
—      day  by  day  a  realm  more  peaceful  and  highly  or- 
ganized, the  instincts  of  its  statesmen  must  have 
revolted  more  and  more  from  the  wild  barbarism  of 
the  north,  where  Eric,  with  his  false  and  cruel  Gun- 
hild  beside  him,  remained,  in  spite  of  his  baptism, 
the  mere  pirate  he  had  landed.    So  "  the  word  went 
about  that  King  Eadmund  would  set  another  chief 
over  Northumbria."     The  threat  was  enough  for 
Eric,  who   set  off  on   new  cruises   of  piracy,  only 
now  adding  the  English  coast  to  his  former  field  of 
prey;  and  at  his  departure  the  Danelaw  rose  once 
more  against  the  English  king. 
T/ie  rising     f  j^g  rcvolt  was  cvcn  more  formidable  than  that 

of  the 

Danelaw,  which  ^thclstau  had  faced  at  Brunanburh,  for  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  English  army  met  Olaf  and 
Constantine  on  that  bloody  field  seems  to  have  pre- 
vented the  general  rising  of  the  English  Danelaw 

as  in  935,  "basileus  Anglorum  et  aeque  totius  Britanniae  orbis  cu- 
ragulus  "  (Cod.  Dip.  1 1 1 1),  or  in  937,  "  rex  Anglorum  et  aeque  totius 
Albionis  gubernator"  (Cod.  Dip.  11 14;  it  is  notable  that  he  never 
recurs  to  his  "  Imperator  "  and  "  Brytenwealda  ").  the  royal  style  had 
at  last  settled  down  into  a  single  form.  From  938,  at  any  rate,  it  is 
almost  uniformly  "  Basileus  Anglorum  cunctarumque  gentium  in 
circuitu  persistentium,"  and  the  signature,  " rex  totius  Britanniae" 
(Cod.  Dip.,  a  series  of  charters  from  11 16  to  1 123,  etc.).  Eadmund 
adopts  and  generally  uses  the  same  description,  though  breaking 
out  here  and  there,  as  in  940,  into  "  rex  Anglorum  et  curagulus 
multarum  gentium  "  (Cod.  Dip.  384),  or  in  941,  "  regni  Anglorum  ba- 
sileus" (he  signs  here, "totius  Britanniae  rex;"  Cod.  Dip.  11 39),  or 
in  946,  "rex  Anglorum  necnon  et  Merciorum  "  (Cod.  Dip.  409),  but 
signs  almost  uniformly  "  rex  Anglorum." 
1  Hakon's  Saga;  Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  317. 


THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  259 

on  which  the  Ostmen  had  reckoned.     But  with  a  chap.vi. 
boy-king  on  the  throne  the  spell  of  terror  which  the   wessex 
great  defeat  had  thrown  over  the  north  was  broken;  Dwieiaw. 
the  Danes  again  called  for  aid  from  their  kinsmen  03^55 
in  Ireland ;  and  on  the  reappearance  of  Olaf  in  the     — 
Humber  in  941  the  Danelaw  took  fire/     The  rising 
was  not  merely  a  rising  of  the  Danes  north  of  Hum- 
ber, for,  after  twenty  years  of  quiet  submission  to 
the  English  rule,  even  the  men  of  the  Five  Boroughs 
now  threw  off  their  allegiance  and  joined  their  kins- 
men in  Northumbria  in  taking  Olaf  for  king;  and 
the  danger  was  heightened  by  an  unlooked-for  de- 
fection from  the  royal  cause.     In  his  appointment 
of  Wulfstan  to  the  primacy  at  York  in  934  ^thel- 
stan  had  trusted  to  secure  a  firm  support  for  his 
rule  in  the  north.     We  have  already  noted  the  new 
and  independent  position  which  had  been  given  to 
the  see  of  York  by  its  isolation  from  the  rest  of  the    ' 
English  Church.     Its  occupant  became,  in  fact,  even 
more  the  religious  centre  of  northern  Britain  than 
the  Primate  of  Canterbury  was  as  yet  of  southern 
Britain ;  and  as  the  pagan  settlers  yielded  to  Chris- 
tian influences,  he  rose  to  still  greater  importance  as 
the  natural   centre  of  union  between  Englishman 
and  Dane.     The  quick  revolutions  in  the  northern 
kingship,  as  well  as  its  occasional  parting  between 
two  rulers,  must  have  still  further  heightened  the 
position  of  a  spiritual  head  who  remained  unaffected 


^  The  Winchester  Chronicle,  a.  942,  gives  here  a  fragment  of  a  sec- 
ond poem  on  the  deeds  of  Eadmund.  As  to  Olaf,  or  Anlaf,  Mr.  Skene 
thinks  this  Olaf  to  be  the  King  of  Dublin,  and  that  on  his  death,  soon 
after,  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  942,  he  was  succeeded  by  the  second 
Olaf,  Sihtric's  son,  from  Scotland. — Celtic  Scotland,  i.  361. 


26o       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHA*».,vi.  by  these  changes;  and  in  Archbishop  Wulfstan  the 
wessex  power  of  the  primate  rivalled  the  temporal  authority 
Dan^eilw.  of  the  northern  kings.     Till  now,  Wulfstan's  influ- 
9sr^   ence  had  been  steadily  exerted  in  support  of  the 
—     English  sovereignty ;  though  the  names  of  the  Dan- 
ish jarls  are  absent  from  ^thelstan's  later  Witena- 
gemots,  Archbishop  Wulfstan  was  still  present  at 
the    English   court;    and   in  the   opening  of  Ead- 
mund's  reign  his  attitude  seems  to  have  remained 
the  same.      He  joined  with  his  fellow -primate  to 
avert  a  conflict  between  the  king  and  the  Danes 
at  Lincoln ;  and  even  in  942  we  find  him  at  Ead- 
mund's  court.*     But  whether  he  was  swept  away  by 
the  strength  of  local  feeling  or  alienated  by  the 
king's  West-Saxon  policy,  at  this  moment  his  course 
suddenly   changed.      Not   only   did   he    adopt   the 
northern  cause  as  his  own,  but  in  the  after-struggle 
he  stood  side  by  side  with  Olaf  as  commander  of 
the  northern  host. 
End-         Not  content  with  freeinor  Northumbria,  the  Ost- 

mjtnd's  de-  .         .  .       *-*        .  •%  «^  •  i  t-»    •      • 

feat,  men  and  primate  burst  m  943  mto  Mid-Britam,  and 
their  storm  of  Tamworth  and  of  Leicester  gave 
them  the  valley  of  the  Trent.  Eadmund  was  strong 
enough  to  regain  the  last  city,  and  Wulfstan  and 
Olaf  had  some  difficulty  in  escaping  from  his  grasp; 
^-r  but  the  work  of  even  Eadward  was  undone,  and,  af- 
;  f  -  •  ter  two  years  of  hard  fighting,  the  primates  of  York 

and  Canterbury  negotiated  a  peace,  in  which  Olaf 
bowed  to  baptism  and  owned  himself  Eadmund  s 
under-king,  but  which  practically  left  Eadmund  mas- 

^  "  Wulfstan  archiepiscopus  urbis  Eboracae  metropolitanus  "  attests 
a  royal  grant  in  942. — Cod.  Dip.  392. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       26 1 

ter  only  of  the  realm  that  Alfred  had  ruled.*     The  chap;  vi. 
revival  of  the  English  Danelaw  was  the  more  for-  wessex 
midable  that  with  it  went  a  revival  of  the  Norman  D^eiaw. 
power  across  the  sea.    The  death  of  ^thelstan  had  ggijr^gj 
been  as  disastrous  to  his  nephew  as  to  his  brother.     — 
It  left  Lewis  friendless  at  a  moment  when  the  war 
on  his  eastern  border  turned  suddenly  against  him, 
and  he  was  driven  by  Otto  from  Lorraine.     Pressed 
hard   even  in   his    own    Frankland   by   Hugh   the 
Great  and  Herbert  of  Vermandois,  deserted  by  Ar- 
nulf  of  Flanders,  the  young  king  was  thrown  back 
on  the  policy  of  his  father.     He  looked  for  aid  to 
the  Normans ;  and  William  Longsword  was  as  ready 
to  return  to  the  policy  of  Hrolf  as  Lewis  to  that  of 
Charles  the  Simple.     Lewis  was  saved  from  ruin  by 
Norman  help ;   his  fortunes  were  restored  by  the 
Norman  sword;  Norman  diplomacy  brought  about 
a  peace  with  Otto  and  a  reconciliation  with  Hugh. 
The  power  which  ^^thelstan  had  threatened  with 
destruction  stood  forward  as  the  leading  power  in 
West  Frankland;  and  the  greatness  of  Normandy 
gave  encouragement  and,  it  may  be,  direct  aid  to  the 
struggle  of  the  Danelaw  against  Eadward's  son. 

But  if  wider  hopes  of  common  action  dawned  on  Recovery 

.  f.      of  the 

the  Northmen,  they  were  foiled  at  this  moment  of  Damiaw. 
triumph  by  the  murder  of  the  Norman  duke ;  for 
the  wild  vigor  which  had  been  turned  into  fighting 
power  by  William  Longsword  crumbled  into  an- 
archy as  soon  as  his  grasp  was  loosed ;  and  his  son 
Richard,  a  child  of  ten  years  old,  was  hardly  seated 
in  the  ducal  chair,  in  943,  when  strife  broke  out  be- 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  943. 


262       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  tween  the  Normans  who  drew  towards  the  religion 
wessex  and  civilization  of  the  land  in  which  they  had  settled, 
DTneSj.  ^nd  those  who  still  clung  to  the  old  worship  and 
937-953  traditions  of  the  north.      Lewis,  thankless  for  the 
—     aid  which  had  saved  him,  swung  back  at  once  to  his 
older  purpose,  and  seized  the   opening  which  the 
strife  gave  him  for  carrying  out  those  plans  of  con- 
quest over  the  Normans  which  had  been  so  fatally 
interrupted  by  his  schemes  on  Lorraine.     His  suc- 
cess was  complete,  for,  marching  upon  Rouen  under 
pretext  of  aiding  the  young  duke  against  the  pagan 
reaction,  he  became  master  of  the  whole  of  Nor- 
mandy without  a  blow.     The  sudden  turn  of  affairs 
in  France  may  have  told  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Channel;   it  was,  at  any  rate,  at  this  juncture,  in 
944,  that  Eadmund  rallied  to  a  new  attack  on  the 
Danelaw;  and  it  was  while  Normandy  lay  at  the 
feet   of   Lewis   that   he   succeeded   in   driving  out 
Olaf,  Sihtric's  son,  and  in  again  reducing  it  to  sub- 
mission.' 
Cumbrui       But  the  mcasurcs  which    followed  its  conquest 
Strath'   showed  that  the  young  king  possessed  the  political 
^^  ^'     as  well  as  the  military  ability  of  his  house.     What 
most  hindered  the  complete  reduction  of  the  Dane- 
law was  the  hostility  to  the  English  rule  of  the  states 
north  of  it,  the  hostility  of  Bernicia,  of  Strathclyde, 
and,  above   all,  of    the    Scots.      The    confederacy 
against  ^thelstan  had  been  brought  together  by 
the  intrigues  of  the  Scot  king,  Constantine;    and 
though  Constantine,  in  despair  at  his  defeat,  left  the 
throne  for  a  monastery,  the  policy  of  his  son  Mal- 

*  He  drove  out  its  two  kings — Olaf,  Sihtric's  son,  and  Ragnald,  son 
of  Sihtric's  brother,  Guthferth. — Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  944. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.         '       263 

colm.was  much  the  same  as  his  father's/    Eadmund  chap.vi. 
was  no  sooner  master  of  the  Danelaw  than  he  dealt  wessex 
with  this  difficulty  in  the  north.    The  English  blood  Danelaw, 
of  the  Bernicians  was  probably  drawing  them  at  last  93^^55. 
to  the  English  monarch,  for  after  Brunanburh  we     — 
hear  nothing  of  their  hostility.     But  Cumbria  was 
far  more  important  than  Bernicia,  for  it  was  through 
Cumbrian   territory  that   the  Ostmen  could  strike 
most  easily  across  Britain  into  the  Danelaw.     The 
Cumbria,  however,  with  which  Eadmund  dealt  was 
far  from  being  the  old  Cumbrian  kingdom  from  the 
Eden  to  the  Ribble,  the  southern  part  of  which 
remained  attached  to  the  Northumbrian  kingdom, 
even  in  the  hands  of  the  Danes,  while  the  northern 
part,  now  known  as  Westmoringa-land — the  land  of 
the  men  of  the  western  moors — had  been  colonized 
by  Norwegian  settlers.' 

Though  a  fragment  of  the  Cumbrian  kingdom  -^^^^l^/J"^ 
which  the  sword  of  Ecgfrith  had  made'  remained  msfem 
to  the  last  in  the  hands  of  Northumbria,  its  bounds 
had  been  cut  shorter  and  shorter.  Under  Eadberht 
the  Northumbrian  supremacy  had  reached  as  far  as 
the  district  of  Kyle  in  Ayrshire ;  and  the  capture  of 
Alclwyd  by  his  alhes,  the  Picts,  in  756,  seemed  to 
leave  the  rest  of  Strath-Clyde  at  his  mercy.  But 
from  that  moment  the  tide  had  turned;  a  great  de- 
feat shattered  Eadberht's  hopes  ;  and  in  the  anarchy 
which  followed  his  reign  district  after  district  must 
have  been  torn  from  the  weakened  grasp  of  North- 

*  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  i.  360,  361. 

'  In  966,  "Thored,  Gunner's  son,  harried  Westmoringa-land.'' 
— Eng.  Chron.  a.  966. 
^  Between  670-675.    See  Making  of  England,  p.  358.— (A.  S.  G.) 


264       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiAP.vf.  umbria,  till  the  cessation  of  the  line  of  her  bishops 
wes^ex  at  Whithern'  tells  that  her  frontier  had  been  push- 
Danelaw,  ed  back  almost  to  Carlisle.    But  even  after  the  land 
937^55  ^^^^  remained  to  her  had  been  in  English  posses- 
—     sion  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half,  it  was  still  no 
English  land.    Its  great  land-owners  were  of  English 
blood,"  and  as  the  Church  of  Lindisfarne  was  richly 
endowed  here,  its  priesthood  was  probably  English 
too.     But  the  conquered  Cumbrians  had  been  left 
by  Ecgfrith  on  the  soil,  and  in  its  local  names  we 
find  few  traces  of  any  migration  of  the  Engle  over 
the  moors  from  the  east.     There  was  little,  indeed, 
to  invite  settlers,  save  along  the  valleys  of  the  Lune 
or  the  Ribble ;  elsewhere  the  huge  and  almost  un- 
broken stretch  of  woodland  and  moorland  and  marsh 
which  covered  our  Lancashire  must  have  been  al- 
most as  wild  and  unpeopled  as  the  dales  scattered 
among  the  "  Western  -  Moors,"  where   St.  Hubert 
found  a  "desert"  for  his   hermitage.     Carlisle,  in- 
deed, had   carried   on    an   unbroken  life  from    its 
Roman  and  Celtic  days ;  but  it  is  doubtful  wheth- 
er life  had  as  yet  returned  to  the  "ceaster"  on  the 
Lune,  our  Lancaster ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  tenth 
century  that  Eadward  could  set  up  his  fort  amidst 
the  ruins  of  Mancunium. 
j^'^^'fy  ^^      The  "parting,"  however,  of  Deira  in  876  among 
settlers.    Halfdcnc's  warriors  drove  English  fugitives  for  ref- 
uge into  the  desert  land.     One  such  we  see  in  a 
certain  Alfred,  who  "came,  fearing  the  pirates,  over 

*  Badulf,  the  last  bishop  of  Whithern  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  succes- 
sion whose  name  is  preserved,  was  consecrated  in  791.  Sim.  Durh 
ad.  ann. — (A.  S.  G.) 

'  Robertson,  Scotland  under  Early  Kings,  ii.  434. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       265 

the  western  hills,  and  sought  pity  from  S.  Cuthbert  chap.vi. 
and  Bishop  Cutheard,  praying  that  they  should  give   wessex 
him  some  lands."'     But  it  was  only  to  meet  other  Danelaw, 
assailants.     Along  the  Irish  Channel  the  boats  of  93^55 
the  Norwegian  pirates  were  as  thick  as  those  of  the     "" 
Danish  corsairs  on  the  eastern  coast ;  and  the  Isle 
of    Man,  which  they  had   conquered   and  half  col- 
onized, served  as  a  starting-point  from  which  the 
marauders  made  their  way  to  the  opposite  shores. 
Their  settlements  reached  as  far  northward  as  Dum- 
friesshire, and  southward,  perhaps,  to  the  little  group 
of  northern  villages  which  we  find  in  the  Cheshire 
peninsula  of  the  Wirral.     But  it  is  in  the  Lake  dis- 
trict and  in  the  north  of  our  Lancashire  that  they 
lie  thickest'      Ormside  and  Ambleside,  Kettleside 
and  Silverside,  recall  the  "side"  or  settle  of  Orm 
and  Hamel,  of  Ketyl  and  Soelvar,  as  Ulverston  and 
Ennerdale  tell  of  Olafr  and  Einar.     Buthar  survives 
in  Buttermere,  Geit  in  Gatesgarth,  and  Skogul  in 
Skeggles  Water.     The  Wikings   Solvar   and  Boll 
and  Skall  may  be   resting  beneath  their  "  haugr " 
or  tomb-mound  at  Silver  How,  Bull  How,  and  Scale 
How.' 

While  this  outlier  of  northern  life  was  being  Cumbria 
planted  about  the  lakes,  the  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde  Mahoim. 
were  busy  pushing  their  conquests  to  the  south  ;  in 

'  Sim.  Durh.,  Hist.  S.  Cuthb.  (Twysden),  p.  74. 

'  "  The  Lake  district  seems  to  have  been  almost  exclusively  peo- 
pled by  Celts  and  Norwegians.  The  Norwegian  suffixes,  gill,  garth, 
haugh,  thwaite,  foss,  and  fell,  are  abundant ;  while  the  Danish  forms, 
thorpe  and  toft,  are  almost  unknown ;  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  test- 
words,  ham,  ford,  worth,  and  ton,  are  comparatively  rare." — Taylor, 
Words  and  Places,  p.  115. 

'  Ibid.  116.  For  the  Norwegian  settlements  in  the  lakes,  see 
Ferguson's  Northmen  in  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland. 


266       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  VI.  Eadmund's  day,  indeed,  we  find  their  border  carried 
wesaex  as  far  as  the  Derwent;'  but  whether  from  the  large 
Dwieiaw.  space  of  Cumbrian  ground  they  had  won,  or  no,  the 
937^55  ^^^^  of  Strath-Clyde  from  this  time  disappears,  and 
—  is  replaced  by  the*  name  of  Cumbria."  Whether  as 
Strath-Clyde  or  Cumbria,  its  rulers  had  been  among 
the  opponents  of  the  West -Saxon  advance;  they 
were  among  the  confederates  against  Eadward  as 
they  were  among  the  confederates  against  ^thel- 
stan;  and  it  was  no  doubt  in  return  for  a  like 
junction  in  the  hostilities  against  himself  that 
Eadmund,  in  945,  ■'  harried  all  Cumberland."  But 
he  turned  his  new  conquest  adroitly  to  account  by 
using  it  to  bind  to  himself  the  most  dangerous 
among  his  foes ;  for  he  granted  the  greater  part  of 
it  to  the  Scottish  king,  on  the  terms  that  Malcolm 
should  be  "his  fellow  -  worker  by  sea  and  land.'" 
In  the  erection  of  this  northern  dependency  we  see 
the  same  forces  acting,  though  on  a  more  distant 
field,  which  had  already  begun  the  disintegration 
of  the  English  realm  in  the  formation  of  the  great 
ealdormanries  of  the  eastern  coast.  Its  immediate 
results,  however,  were  advantageous  enough.  Scot 
and  Welshman,  whose  league  had  till  now  formed 
the  chief  force  of  opposition  to  English  supremacy 
in  the  north,  were  set  at  variance ;  the  road  of  the 
Ostmen  was  closed,  while  the  fidelity  of  the  Scot- 
king  seemed  to  be  secured  by  the  impossibility  of 

*  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  i.  362. 

^  W^estmoringa-land  survives,  little  changed  in  area,  in  our  West- 
moreland ;  our  Cumberland  is  the  fragment  of  the  Strath-Clyde  or 
Cumbrian  kingdom  which  remained  to  England  after  the  rest  had 
gone  to  the  Scottish  kings. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  945. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       267 

holding  Cumbria  against  revolt  without  the  support  chap.vi. 
of  his  "fellow-worker"  in  the  south.  wewex 

Hard  as  Eadmund  had  been  pressed  by  these  iSneiaw. 
outer  troubles,  he  had  been  far  from  neglecting  331^55 
the  work  of  government  at  home.  While  the  efforts  ^^^r^^ 
of  ^thelstan  had  been  mainly  directed  to  the  se- 
curity of  order  and  of  property,  Eadmund  dealt 
with  the  more  formidable  difficulty  of  the  right  of 
feud.  The  evil  with  which  he  dealt,  and  his  at- 
tempts to  reform  it,  have  been  already  noticed  in 
the  sketch  given  of  the  history  of  English  justice/ 
In  spite  of  all  bounds  and  limitations  by  which  the 
rights  of  private  vengeance  had  been  restrained,  the 
feud  in  Eadmund  s  day  remained  wholly  incompati- 
ble with  the  new  social  order  that  had  been  de- 
veloped alike  by  Christianity  and  by  the  growing 
sense  of  a  common  national  life.  Early  justice 
had  rested  on  the  family  bond,  on  the  theory  of  the 
kinsfolk  bound  together  by  ties  of  mutual  responsi- 
bility for  vengeance  and  aid  in  self-defence.  But 
as  society  became  more  complex  it  outgrew  in  great 
measure  these  earlier  ties  of  blood;  and  the -con- 
ception of  personal  responsibility  which  Christianity 
had  taught  helped  to  weaken  the  bonds  of  kinship. 
Eadmund  shared  in  the  "  horror  of  the  unrighteous 
and  manifold  fightings "  which  was  felt  in  his  day, 
and  in  his  attempt  to  lay  on  the  man-slayer  himself 
the  whole  burden  of  his  deed,  to  free  his  kinsfolk 
from  the  obligation  of  bearing  the  feud,  and  to  pro- 
tect them  from  the  vengeance  of  the  slain  man's 
kin,"  he  not  only  attacked  the  custom  of  the  feud, 

*  See  ch.  i.  pp.  23-27. 

'  LI.  Eadmund :  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  249. 


268  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciuF.vi.  but  struck  a  heavy  blow  at  the  old  theory  of  kinship, 

wewex  with  its  traditional  responsibilities. 

DTnVaw.      From  questions  of  home  government,  however, 

937I955  ^^^  young  king  was  soon  called  back  to  outer 
—     affairs.     For  the  moment  the  triumphs  of  the  two 

Eadtmind.  coMSins  on  either  side  of  the  Channel  seemed  to 
have  realized  the  hopes  of  ^thelstan.  In  England 
and  France  alike  the  men  of  the  north  lay  at  the 
feet  of  Lewis  and  Eadmund,  for  the  presence  of 
the  northern  primate  and  northern  Jarls  at  the 
English  court,  for  the  first  time  since  Brunanburh, 
showed  that  the  Danelaw  was  again  subdued.'  But 
the  Danelaw  had  hardly  given  its  allegiance  to 
Eadmund  when  a  sudden  revolution  wrested  Nor- 
mandy from  his  cousin's  grasp.  A  fleet,  under  the 
King  of  Denmark,  Harald  Blaatand,  moored  off 
the  Cotentin  and  called  the  country  to  arms.  The 
Normans  gathered  round  the  Danish  host,  while 
Duke  Hugh,  jealous  of  the  power  Lewis  had  won 
from  his  conquest  on  the  Seine,  joined  the  king's 
foes ;  and  in  945  a  victory  of  their  united  forces  on 
the  Dive  broke  the  Frankish  yoke.  Not  only  was 
the  king's  army  defeated,  but  Lewis  himself  was 
taken  in  the  fight  and  given  as  a  prisoner  into  the 
^  /hands  of  Duke  Hugh.  The  demand  of  Eadmund 
^  \  for  his  cousin's  liberation  shows  that  the  two  kings 
^  had  been  acting  in  concert  against  the  Northmen, 
while  the  answer  of  Hugh  is  notable  as  the  first  of 
a  series  of  such  defiances  which  from  that  day  to 
this  have  passed  between  the  lands  on  either  side 
of  the  Channel.    "  I  will  do  nothing  for  the  English- 

*  For  Wulfstan,  see  Cod.  Dip.  409.     For  the  Jarls  "  Scule "  and 
"  Halfdene,"  Cod.  Dip.  410. 


OP*  thh; 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  ^^Id  ft^d  -^ 

men's  threats  !"  said  the  duke.     "  Let  them  

and   they  will   soon  find  what  men  of  the  Franks  wessex 
are  worth  in   fight !  or,  if  they  fear  to  come,  they  Danelaw, 
shall  know  at  some  time  or  other  the  might  of  the  93^55, 
Franks  and  pay  for  their  arrogance !"     Master  of     — 
all  England  at  twenty-four,  Eadmund  could  hardly 
have  passed  by  a  challenge  such  as  this.     But  the 
quarrel  was  suddenly  hushed  by  his  death.'     As  he 
feasted  at  Pucklechurch,  in  the  May  of  946,  Leofa, 
a  robber  whom   the   king  had   banished  from  the 
land,  entered  the  hall,  seated  himself  at  the  royal 
board,  and  drew  his  sword  on  the  cup  -  bearer  when 
he   bade   him   retire.     Eadmund  sprang   in   wrath 
to  his  thegn's  aid,  and  seizing  Leofa  by  the  hair 
flung  him  to  the  ground,  but   in  the  struggle  the 
robber  drove  his  dagger  to  the  king's  heart. 

With  the  death  of  Eadmund  a  new  figure  comes  J^nitstan^ 
to  the  front  of  English  affairs,  and  the  story  of  Ab- 
bot Dunstan  of  Glastonbury  gives  us  a  welcome 
glimpse  into  the  inner  life  of  England  at  a  time 
when  history  hides  it  from  us  beneath  the  weary 
details  of  wars  with  the  Danes."     In  the  heari  of 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  496 ;  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy), 
i.  228. 

^  The  primary  authority  for  Dunstan's  life  is  an  anonymous  biog- 
raphy, written  about  a.  d.  iogo,  a  few  years  after  his  death,  by  a 
Saxon  priest.  Professor  Stubbs,  who  has  collected  the  various  bi- 
ographies in  his  "  Memorials  of  S.  Dunstan,"  has  made  it  probable 
that  this  is  a  work  of  an  exiled  scholar  from  Liege,  who  was  present 
in  England  at  the  archbishop's  death,  and  was  living  under  his  pro- 
tection. A  second  work,  by  Adelard  of  Ghent,  was  drawn  up  in 
the  form  of  lessons  to  be  read  in  the  service  of  the  monastery  at 
Canterbury,  and  is  hardly  of  later  date  than  the  first.  After  the 
Conquest  a  third  life,  much  expanded,  was  drawn  up  by  Osbem, 
and  a  fourth  by  Eadmer,  both  monks  of  Canterbury,  while  a  little 
later  on  William  of  Malmesbury  compiled  a  fifth,  whose  purpose 


270       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^vi.  Somerset,  at  the  base  of  the  Tor,  a  hill  that  rose 

wessex  out  of  the  waste  of  flood-drowned  fen  which  then 

Danelaw,  filled  the  valley  of  Glastonbury,  lay  in  i^thelstan's 

937^55   ^^y  ^^^  estate  of  Heorstan,  a  man  of  wealth  and 

—     noble  blood,  the  kinsman  of  three  bishops  of  the 

time  and  of  many  thegns  of  the  court,  if  not  of  the 

king  himself.'     It  was  in  Heorstan's  hall  that  his 

son  Dunstan,  as  yet  a  fair,  diminutive  child,  with 

scant  but  beautiful   hair,  caught   the  passion    for 

music  that  showed  itself  in  his  habit  of  carrying 

harp  in  hand  on  journey  or  visit,  as  in  his  love  for 

the  "  vain  songs  of  ancient  heathendom,  the  trifling 

legends,  and  funeral  chants,'"  relics,  doubtless,  of  a 

mass  of  older  poetry  that  time  has  reft  from  us. 

was  to  bring  out  more  fully  Dunstan's  connection  with  Glaston- 
bury. Even  in  the  few  years  that  passed  between  Dunstan's  death 
and  the  life  by  Adelard  a  luxuriant  growth  of  legend  had  taken 
place ;  but  it  is  to  the  three  last  biographers  that  the  wilder  stories 
which  gathered  round  the  archbishop's  name  are  mainly  due.  The 
life  by  the  priest  of  Liege  is  simply  disfigured  by  verbosity,  and 
bears  traces  of  deriving  most  of  the  earlier  biographic  details  from 
the  talk  of  Dunstan  himself;  its  information  and  its  silences  (as  in 
the  history  of  Eadgar)  are  both  probably  due  to  this  source.  But 
even  this  antedates  the  monastic  struggle,  which  had  become  so 
important  at  the  time  of  its  composition,  by  confusing  it  with  the 
strife  in  Eadwig's  reign  (Memor.  S.  Dunstan,  Introd.  p.  vii.).  Such 
as  they  are,  however,  all  these  lives  are  of  value  for  a  time  when  we 
have,  save  in  the  meagre  annals  of  the  Chronicle,  no  contemporary 
materials  but  these  and  a  few  other  hagiographies  (Stubbs,  Me- 
mor. S.  Dunstan,  Introd.  p.  ix.). 

*  Bishop  Elfege  of  Winchester  and  Kynsige  of  Lichfield  were 
his  kinsmen  (see  Saxon  biographer.  Memorials,  pp.  13,  32).  So, 
says  Adelard  (ibid.  55),  was  Archbishop  ^thelm  of  Canterbury; 
but  this  may  be  a  mistake  for  Bishop  ^thelgar  of  Crediton.  For 
his  kin  among  the  "  Palatini,"  see  Sax.  biogr.,  Memor.  p.  1 1.  .^thel- 
flsed,  ^thelstan's  niece,  was  also  related  to  him  (ibid.  17). 

"  Sax.  biogr.  (Memor.  p.  1 1),  "  avitae  gentilitatis  vanissima  didicisse 
carmina,  et  historiarum  frivolas  colere  incantationum  naenias." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       271 

But  nobler  strains  than  those  of  ancient  heathen-  chap,  vi. 
dom  were  round  the  child  as  he  grew  to  boyhood.'  wessex 
Alfred's  strife  with  the  Northmen  was  fresh  in  the  Danelaw, 
memory  of  all.     Athelney  lay  a  few  miles  off  across  93^55 
the   Polden  hills;    and  Wedmore,  where  the   final     — 
frith  was  made  and  the  chrism-fillet  of  Guthrum  un- 
loosed, rose  out  of  the  neighboring  marshes.     Mem- 
ories of  Ine  met  the  boy  as  he  passed  to  school  at 
Glastonbury,  which  still  remained  notable  as  a  place 
of  pilgrimage,  though  but  a  few  secular  priests  clung 
to  the  house  which  the  king  had  founded,  and  its 
lands  had  for  the  most  part  been  stripped  from  it." 
The  ardor  of  Dunstan's  temper  was  seen  in  the 
eagerness  with  which  he  plunged  into  the  study  of 
letters  ;  and  his  knowledge  became  at  last  so  famous 
in  the  neighborhood  that  news  of  it  reached  the 
court.     Dunstan  was  called  there,  no  doubt,  as  one 


'  The  date  of  his  birth  is  a  vexed  question.  "  Hujus  (i^thelstani) 
imperii  temporibus  oritur  puer,"  says  the  Saxon  biographer  (Memor. 
p.  6).  The  English  Chronicle  (though  in  what  is  probably  a  later 
insertion)  takes  "oritur''  for  "is  born,"  and  with  all  after-writers 
places  his  birth  in  ^thelstan's  first  year,  924  or  925.  But  if  so,  his 
appearance  and  expulsion  from  ^thelstan's  court  must  have  been 
before  he  was  sixteen  ;  his  appointment  as  Abbot  of  Glastonbury,  at 
any  rate,  before  Eadmund's  death  in  946,  when  he  was  still  but 
twenty-two,  and  his  career  as  guide  and  counsellor  of  Eadred,  must 
have  been  between  the  ages  of  twenty-two  and  thirty-one.  This 
seems  very  improbable,  and  the  "oritur"  may,  perhaps,  be  fairly 
construed  "rises  into  notice,"  which  would  throw  back  his  birth 
into  the  days  of  Eadward.  Granting  this,  Adelard's  statement  that 
Archbishop  ^thelm,  who  died  in  the  same  year  with  Eadward, 
first  brought  him  to  court,  may  be  true  (Memor.  p.  55,  and  Introd. 
p.  Ixxviii.). 

^  It  had  a  church  "  built  by  no  art  of  man,"  to  which  ^thelstan 
went  on  pilgrimage,  and  where  "  Hiberniensium  perigrini "  came  to 
visit  the  tomb  of  a  younger  Patrick,  bringing  their  books  with 
them,  which  Dunstan  read  (Sax.  biogr.,  Memor.  pp.  7,  10,  11). 


272       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  VI.  of  the  young  nobles  who  received  their  training  in 
wessex   attendance  on  the  king  during  boyhood  and  early 
Danelaw,  youth;'    but  his   appearance  was  the  signal  for  a 
937^55.  burst  of  jealousy  among  the  royal  thegns,  though 
—      many  were  kinsmen  of  his  own ;  he  was  forced  to 
withdraw,  and  when  he  was  again  summoned,  on  the 
accession  of  Eadmund,  his  rivals  not  only  drove  him 
from  the  king's  train,  but  threw  him  from  his  horse 
as  he  rode  through  the  marshes,  and  with  the  wild 
passion  of  their  rage  trampled  him  underfoot  in  the 
mire." 
fotof Gil's-     ^^^  outrage  brought  fever,  and  in  the  bitterness 
ionbury.  of  disappointment  and  shame  Dunstan  rose  from  his 
bed  of  sickness  a  monk."     But  in  England  the  mo- 
nastic profession  was  at  this  time  little  more  than  a 
vow  of  celibacy  and  clerical  life,*  and  his  devotion 
took  no  ascetic  turn.     His  nature,  in  fact,  was  sun- 
ny, versatile,  artistic,  full  of  strong  affections,  and 
capable  of  inspiring  others  with  affections  as  strong. 
Throughout  his  life  he  won  the  love  of  women,  and 
in  these  earlier  years  of  retirement  at  Glastonbury 
he  became  the  spiritual  guide  of  a  woman  of  high 
rank  who  lived  only  for  charity  and  the  entertain- 
ment of  pilgrims.     "  He  ever  clave  to  her  and  loved 
her  in  wondrous  fashion."     Quick-witted,  of  tena- 
*cious  memory,  a  ready  and  fluent  speaker,  gay  and 
gepial  of  address,  an  artist,  a  musician,  an  indefati- 

__         ^  His  age  shows  that  this  must  be  the  meaning  of  the  Saxon 
]    biographer's  "  inter  regios  proceres  et  palatinos  principes  electus  " 
(Memor.  p.  21). 
"^  Sax.  biogr.  (Memor.  p.  12). 

'  Ibid.  14.     He  had  been  tonsured   as  a  clerk   from   boyhood 
(p.  10). 
*  See  Stubbs,  Memor.  S.  Dunstan,  Introd.  p.  Ixxxiii.-lxxxv. 


THE  CONfUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  273 

gable  worker  alike  at  books  or  handicraft,  his  sphere  chap.vi. 
of  activity  widened  as  the  wealth  of  his  devotee  was  wessex 
placed  unreservedly  at  his  command.  We  see  him  Danelaw, 
followed  by  a  train  of  pupils,  busy  with  literature,  93^^!^^ 
harping,  painting,  designing.  In  one  pleasant  tale  — 
of  these  days  a  lady  summons  him  to  her  house  to 
design  a  robe  which  she  is  embroidering,  and  as 
Dunstan  bends  with  her  maidens  over  their  toil,  the 
I  harp  which  he  has  hung  on  the  wall  sounds,  without 
<  mortal  touch,  tones  which  the  startled  ears  around 
V  frame  into  a  joyous  antiphon.  But  the  tie  which 
bound  Dunstan  to  this  scholar-life  was  broken  by 
the  death  of  his  patroness ;  and  towards  the  close  of 
Eadmund  s  reign  the  young  scholar  was  again  called 
to  the  court.  Even  in  ^thelstan's  day  he  seems 
to  have  been  known  to  both  the  younger  sons  of 
Eadward  the  Elder ;  and  with  one  of  these,  Eadred, 
his  friendship  became  of  the  closest  kind.  But  the 
old  jealousies  revived ;  his  life  was  again  in  danger ; 
and  the  game  seemed  so  utterly  lost  that  Dunstan 
threw  himself  on  the  protection  of  some  envoys 
who  had  come  at  this  time  from  the  German  court 
of  Otto  to  the  English  king.'  He  was  preparing  to 
return  with  them  to  their  home  in  Saxony  when  an 
unlooked-for  chance  restored  him  suddenly  to  pow- 
er. A  red-deer  which  Eadmund  was  chasing  over 
Mendip  dashed  down  the  Cheddar  cliffs,  and  the 
king  only  checked  his  horse  on  the  brink  of  the 
ravine.  In  the  bitterness  of  anticipated  death  he 
had  repented  of  his  injustice  to  Dunstan,  and  on 

^  "  Regni  orientis  nuncii  cum  rege  tunc  hospitantes." — Sax.  biogr. 
(Memor.  p.  23).  I  follow  the  suggestion  of  Professor  Stubbs  as  to 
this  "  Eastern  Realm." 

18 


937-955. 


2  74       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  VI.  his  return  from  the  chase  the  young  priest  was  sum- 
wessex  moned  to  his  presence.  "  Saddle  your  horse,"  said 
Danelaw.  Eadmund,  "  and  ride  with  me !"  The  royal  train 
swept  over  the  marshes  to  Dunstan's  home,  and 
greeting  him  with  the  kiss  of  peace,  the  king  seated 
him  in  the  abbot's  chair,  as  Abbot  of  Glastonbury.' 
Eadred.  From  that  moment  Dunstan  may  have  exercised 
some  influence  on  public  affairs ;  but  it  was  not  till 
Eadmund's  murder  that  his  influence  became  su- 
preme. Eadmund  was  but  twenty -five  years  old 
when  he  died;  and  as  his  children,  Eadwig  and 
Eadgar,  were  too  young  to  follow  him  on  the  throne, 
the  crown  passed  to  his  last  surviving  brother,  the 
iEtheling  Eadred."*  Eadred  had  long  been  bound 
by  a  close  friendship  to  Dunstan ;  and  a  friendship 
as  close  bound  the  young  abbot  to  the  mother  of 
the  king,  the  wife  of  Eadward  the  Elder,  who  seems 
to  have  wielded  the  main  influence  at  Eadred's 
court.  It  was  of  even  greater  moment  that  Dun- 
stan seems  to  have  been  linked  by  a  close  intimacy 
with  the  "Half-King"  ^thelstan.  The  fact  that 
-^thelstan's  wife,  ^Ifwen,  is  said  to  have  been  the 
foster-mother  of  Eadgar,'  as  well  as  his  own  eleva- 
tion, proves  the  influence  of  the  East-Anglian  eal- 
dorman  in  the  reign  of  Eadmund ;  he  was,  in  fact, 
already  "  Primarius,"  *  a  post  which  reminds  us  of 

^  Kemble  places  this  before  940,  on  faith  of  a  charter  (Cod.  Dip. 
384)  of  that  year ;  but  Professor  Stubbs  regards  his  signature  as  a 
later  insertion.  He  certainly  signed  as  abbot  in  946  (Cod.  Dip.  41 1), 
and  his  nomination  was  probably  not  much  earlier  (Stubbs,  Memor. 
S.  Dunstan,  Introd.  p.  Ixxx.). 

"^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  946.  '  Robertson,  Hist.  Essays,  p.  180. 

*  Sax.  biogr.  (Memor.  S.  Dunstan,  p.  44).  "Cujusdam  primarii 
ducis,  utpote  ^Ifstani ;"  and  again,  "  praedicto  comitante  secum 
Primario." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       275 

the  ofifice  of  yE  If  red  as  "  Secundarius,"  as  possibly  chap.vi. 
a  germ  of  the  later  Justiciarship,  and  which  at  any  wessex 
rate  placed  him  near  to  the    king   himself  in  the  D^^eiaw. 
government  of  the  realm.     Under  Eadred  his  influ-  93^55 
ence  became  yet  greater ;  he  seems  to  have  displaced 
Wulfgar,  whose  signature  through  Eadmund's  days 
had  preceded  his  own,  as  the   leading   counsellor 
of  the  crown,  and  signs  first  of  all  secular  nobles 
through  the  coming  reign.'     It  was  with  the  sup- 
port of  iEthelstan  that  Dunstan  from  this  moment 
stood  among  Eadred's  advisers. 

Of  his  political  work  indeed  we  know  little,  but  TJl^{^"f^ 
we  can  hardly  mistake  his  hand  in  the  solemn  proc- 
lamation which  announced  the  king's  crowning  at 
Kingston.'  The  crowning  of  Eadred  indeed  was  a 
fresh  step  forward  towards  a  national  kingship.  His 
election  was  the  first  national  election,  the  first  elec- 
tion by  a  witenagemot  where  Briton  and  Dane  and 
Englishmen  were  alike  represented,  where  Welsh 
under-kings  and  Danish  jarls  sate  side  by  side  with 

*  See  the  charters  of  these  reigns  in  the  Codex  Diplomaticus. 

"  Cod.  Dip.  41  r,  a  grant  to  the  "  pedisequus  "  Wulfric,  apparently 
one  of  a  number  of  coronation  grants,  at  any  rate  of  the  first  year, 
"quo  sceptra  diadematum  Angul-Saxna  cum  Nordhymbris  et 
Paganorum  cum  Brettonibus  (Eadredus)  gubernabat,"  is  prefaced 
by  what  looks  like  a  general  proclamation  of  the  new  sovereign. 
"  Concedente  gratia  Dei  .  .  .  contigit  post  obitum  Eadmundi  regis, 
qui  regimina  regnorum  Angul-Saxna,  et  Nordhymbra,  Paganorum 
Brettonumque,  septem  annorum  intervallo  regaliter  gubernabat, 
quod  Eadred  frater  ejus  uterinus,  electione  optimatum  subrogatus, 
pontificali  auctoritate  eodem  anno  catholice  est  rex  et  rector  ad 
regna  quadripartiti  regiminis  consecratus,  qui  denique  rex  in  villa 
quae  dicitur  regis,  Cyngestun,  ubi  consecratio  peracta  est,  plura  plu- 
rimis  perenniter  condonavit  carismata."  This  is  attested  by  the 
two  archbishops,  Odo  and  Wulfstan,  ten  bishops,  "  Howael  regulus, 
Marcant,  Cadmo,"  and  by  "  Urm,  Imorcer  eorl,  Grim,  Andcoll  eorl," 
and  "  Dunstan  abbud." 


2^5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  English  nobles  and  bishops.    His  coronation  was  in 
WM^ex   the  same  way  the  first  national  coronation,  the  first 
Danelaw,  union  of  the  primate  of  the  north  and  the  primate 
937^55  ^^  ^^^^  south  in  setting  the  crown  on  the  head  of 
—     one  who  was  to  rule  from  the  Forth  to  the  Chan- 
nel/    In  the  phrase  which  describes  the  new  king 
as  "designated  by  the  choice  of  the  nobles,  and  by 
the  authority  of  the  bishops  consecrated  king,"  we 
may  catch   a   foreshadowing  of  the  constitutional 
theory  which  Dunstan  afterwards  embodied  in  the 
crowning  and  coronation  oath  of  Eadgar  at  Bath, 
as  his  attempt  to  find  a  general  name  for  the  royal 
dominions  in  the  "  Fourfold  Realm  "  shows  a  fresh 
advance  towards  his  final  conception  of  a  Kingdom 
of  England.' 
p^^-i^         Eadred's  first  year  was  a  time  of  quiet.    After  the 

Hiring. 

'  At  the  death  of  ^thelstan,  Northumbria  stood  apart  with  its 
own  under-king,  so  that  such  a  Witenagemot  was  impossible. 

^  Eadred,  like  his  brother,  commonly  signs  himself  "  Rex  Anglo- 
rum,"  and  styles  himself  "  Rex  Anglorum  caeterarumque  gentium 
in  circuitu  persistentium,"  etc.  (Cod.  Dip.  413,  1156,  1157,  1159,  II6I- 
II64),  a  phrase  which  the  "fourfold  realm  "  now  enabl^es  us  to  de- 
fine. The  "peoples  surrounding"  the  English  are  strictly  the 
"Britons,"  "Pagans,"  or  Danes  of  Mid-Britain,  and  "Northum- 
brians." Among  the  variations  we  find  "  rex  et  primicerius  totius 
Albionis  "  (Cod.  Dip.  1168);  and  in  a  number  of  other  charters 
"  totius  Albionis  monarchus  et  primicerius  "  (ib.  425),  "  rex  Albionis  " 
(ib.  1 167).  In  949  Eadred  is  he  "quem  Northymbra  paganorumque 
seu  cseterarum  sceptro  provinciarum  Rex  Regum  omnipotens  sub- 
limavit,  quique  praefatus  Imperator  semper  Deo  grates  dignissimus 
larga  manu  subministrat "  (Cod.  Dip.  424).  But  another  char- 
ter of  the  same  year  shows  that  this  "  Imperator"  must  be  taken  in 
a  rhetorical  rather  than  technical  use :  "  Eadredus  rex  Anglorum, 
rectorque  Nordhanymbra,  et  Paganorum  imperator,  Brittonumque 
propugnator  "  (Cod.  Dip.  426),  where  we  have  the  fourfold  realm  re- 
curring, and  the  "  Empire  "  restricted  to  the  Danes  of  Mid-Britain. 
In  995,  however,  the  style  became  really  Imperial,  "  Angul-Seaxna 
Eadred  cyning  et  casere  totius  Britanniae  "  (Cod.  Dip.  433). 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


277 


peace  with  Eadmund,  Olaf,  Sihtric's  son,  so  long  chap.  vi. 
the  foe  of  the  English  kings,  but  now,  apparently,  wessex 
acting  as  their  under  -  king,  seems  to  have  reigned  Dalfeiaw. 
beyond  the  Tees,  while  Ragnald,  Gudferth's  son,  93:^55 
ruled  in  our  Yorkshire.  The  north  submitted  qui-  — 
etly  to  Eadred's  rule,  while  the  Scots  renewed  the 
oath  of  "  fellow-workmanship "  which  they  had  giv- 
en to  his  predecessor  in  exchange  for  the  cession 
of  Cumbria.'  The  country,  however,  soon  became 
restless  enough  to  call  for  the  king's  presence ;  and 
in  the  following  year,  947,'  Eadred  advanced  to 
"  Taddenescylf,"  and  there  received  the  oath  of 
personal  allegiance  from  the  Northumbrian  witan. 
Among  them  the  chronicle  makes  no  mention  of 
any  under-kings  at  all,  and  Wulfstan  stands  alone 
as  the  foremost  man  of  the  north.  But  formal  as 
the  recognition  was,  neither  witan  nor  archbishop 
were  long  bound  by  it'  "  Within  a  little  while " 
(apparently  before  the  year  was  out)  "  they  belied 
it  all,  both  pledge  and  oath."*  They  may  have  been 
tempted  to  a  rising  by  the  presence  of  the  Danish 
king,  Harald  Blaatand,  or  Blue -Tooth,  off  their 
coast.  The  Danish  kingdom,  which  had  been  built 
up  by  Gorm  the  Old,  was  now  beginning  to  show, 
under  his  son  Harald,  the  strength  which  was  at 
last  to  bring  about  its  conquest  of  England;  and 

*  Eng.  Chron.  a.  946.  ^  Eng,  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  947. 

^  Wulfstan,  however,  must  have  been  at  Eadred's  court  in  947, 
948,  and  949,  as  he  signs  charters  in  all  these  years  (Cod.  Dip.  11 57, 
1 1 58,  1 1 59,  1 161,  1 162,  1 1 63,  424,  425,  426),  so  that  he  can  hardly 
have  taken  any  active  part  in  this  rising. 

*  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  947.  This  is  the  only  chronicle  that 
gives  much  information  as  to  this  reign :  that  of  Winchester  tells 
only  Eadred's  accession  and  death. 


278       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  the  fleets  of  Harald  rode  triumphant  alike  in  the 
w^sex  Baltic  and  the  British  Channel.  Fortunately,  how- 
Daliaw.  ever,  for  Eadred,  Harald's  efforts  in  the  latter  quarter 
937^55  ^^^^  mainly  directed  to  the  support  of  the  Norman 
—  *  Duchy,  which  was  still  hard  pressed  by  its  neigh- 
bors, and  in  which  he  hoped  to  find  a  base  for 
a  Danish  conquest  of  Western  Frankland.  But, 
though  bent  on  this  aim,  he  still  found  room  for 
wider  projects ;  he  had  already  established  one  son 
as  King  of  Semland  in  the  Baltic,  and  if,  after  the 
completion  of  his  work  in  Normandy,  in  945,  he 
turned  to  re-establishing  the  power  of  the  Skioldungs 
in  Britain,  it  would  account  for  the  reception  of  his 
son  Eric  by  the  Northumbrians  at  this  juncture  as 
their  king/ 
Ericdriv-  It  is  possiblc  that  the  sight  of  their  English 
ruler  had  roused  fresh  hopes  of  independence  in 
the  breasts  of  the  Northumbrians.  The  house  of 
Alfred  was  already  showing  signs  of  that  physical 
exhaustion  and  degeneracy  which  was  to  reveal 
itself  in  the  premature  manhood  and  equally  pre- 
mature deaths  of  Eadwig  and  Eadgar,  in  the  weak- 
ness of  i^thelred,  and  the  feeble  frame  of  the  child- 
less Confessor.  Though  Eadred  was  in  the  prime 
of  life,  he  was  suffering  from  a  disease  which  in  a 
few  years  hurried  him  to  the  tomb;  and  the  Danish 
warriors  may  well  have  looked  with  scorn  on  a  sick 
man's  sword."     But  no  trace  of  weakness  showed 

^  The  later  English  chronicles  confound  this  Eric  Hirin^^  v/ith  the 
Norwegian,  Eric  Bloody-Axe.  See,  however,  Adam  of  Bremen,  ii. 
15:  "  Haraldus  Hiring  filium  suum  misit  in  Angliam,  qui  subacta 
insula  a  Northumbris  tandem  proditus  et  occisus  est." 

^  See  Saxon  Biography  of  Dunstan ;  Stubbs,  Memor.  S.  Dunstan, 
P-3I- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       279 

itself  in  the  king's  action.     As  soon  as  winter  was  chap.vi. 
over  he  marched,  in  948,  on  the  north,  and  "  ravaged  wessex 
all  Northumberland,  for  that  they  had  taken  Eric  i^neJaw. 
for  their  king." '    The  firing  of  the  minster  at  Ripon,  93^55 
where  Wilfrid  had  lavished  the  resources  of  his  art,     — 
and  which  had  escaped  the  ruin  of  the  Danish  storm, 
made  this  raid  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the  north; 
the  king's  force  was  too  overwhelming  for  resistance, 
and  it  was  only  as  he  withdrew  to  the  south  over 
the  wrecked  country  that  the  Danes  ventured  to 
gather  in  pursuit.     They  fell  on  his  rear  at  Chester- 
ford,  and  so  heavy  were  the  West-Saxon  losses  that 
Eadred  in  a  burst  of  wrath  threatened  to  turn  back 
"and  wholly  ruin   the  land."     But  his  threat  was 
enough.     The  Danes  abandoned  Eric,  made  com- 
pensation to  Eadred  for  the  men  who  had  fallen, 
and  again  submitted  to  his  rule.'* 

In  the  rise  and  fall  of  Eric  we  may  perhaps  see  Arrest  of 
a  strife,  not  only  between  the  parties  of  resistance  op  Wuif- 
and  of  submission,  but  also  between  the  Danish  and 
Norwegian  settlers  who  shared  the  Danelaw;  for 
hardly  had  he  been  forsaken  when,  in  949,  Olaf, 
Sihtric's  son,  reappeared  in  North umbria,  where  he 
ruled  for  the  next  three  years."  Olaf,  no  doubt, 
ruled  as  a  sub-king  under  Eadred,  for  there  is  no 
record  of  further  strife  ;  and  the  king  must,  through- 

»  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  948. 

^  In  949  the  Welsh,  Danes,  and  Northumbrian  jarls  united  for 
the  last  time  in  attesting  a  charter  of  Eadred. 

'  This  is  from  a  late  Peterborough  Chron.  (E),  a.  949,  as  our  in- 
formation even  from  the  Worcester  Chronicle  ceases  here,  save  that 
it  tells  of  Wulfstan's  arrest  in  952.  Skene  (Celtic  Scotland,  i.  363) 
identifies  this  Olaf  with  Sihtric's  son;  Earle  (Paral.  Chron.  118, 
note)  makes  him  another  Olaf. 


28o  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  out  these  years,  have  been  quietly  getting  a  firmer 
wessex   grip  on  the  Danelaw.     In  952,  indeed,  he  ventured 
D^an^ei^aw.  on  an   act  which  marked  him  as  its  master.     The 
937^55   submission  after   Chesterford   had   no   doubt  won 
— -     pardon  for  Wulfstan's  share  in  the  revolt  that  so 
soon  followed  his  oath -taking  at  Taddenescylf,  as 
for  the  share  of  his  fellow-rebels;  but  to  the  English 
court,  where  the  young  king  and  his  ministers  were 
alike  swayed  by  a  religious  revival,  the  forswearing 
of  an  archbishop  took  a  different  color  from  that  of 
a  Dane,  nor  had  the  primate's  course  during  the 
years  that  followed  been  free  from  charges  of  fresh 
disloyalty.'     He  "had  been   often   accused  to  the 
king,"  but  it  was    not  till  952  that  he  was  seized, 
and  brought  as  a  prisoner  before   Eadred  in  the 
fortress  of  Jedburgh." 
TheNorth-     f  j^g  arrcst  of  the  archbishop  was  due,  no  doubt, 
earldom,  to  suspicious  of  his  Complicity  in  a  fresh  rising  in 
Northumbria,  where  Olaf  was  in  the  same  year  driven 
out  by  his  subjects,  and  Eric  Hiring  again  received 
as  their  king."     Of  the  strife  that  followed  through 
the  next  two  years  we  know  only  the  close,  the  re- 
newed expulsion  of  Eric,  and  the  fresh  submission 
of  the  Danelaw  to  Eadred.*    But  short  and  unevent- 

^  As  we  have  seen,  Wulfstan's  presence  at  Ead red's  court  in  947 
and  948  is  hardly  compatible  with  any  active  sharing  in  the  rising 
of  the  north  during  these  years.  He  is  there  still  in  949  (Cod.  Dip. 
424,  425,  426,  427),  but  I  do  not  see  his  name  afterwards. 

"^  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  952.  He  was  released  two  years  after, 
on  the  death  of  Eric  (ib.  954). 

^  This  is  again  from  the  late  Peterborough  Chronicle,  and  may 
possibly  be  a  mere  blunder  for  Eric's  reception  in  949,  as  given  in 
the  Worcester  Chronicle  (D),  which  knows  nothing  of  these  later 
events. 

*  The  account  in  the  Chronicle  differs  widely  here  from  that  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       28 1 

f ul  as  the  struggle  was,  it  was  the  last ;  for  with  the  chap.  vi. 
submission  of  954  the  long  work  of  Alfred's  house  wessex 
was  done.    Dogged  as  his  fight  had  been,  the  Dane  Danelaw, 
at  last  owned  himself  beaten ;  from  the  moment  of  q^t^. 
Eadred's  final  triumph  all  resistance   came  to  an     — 
end;  and  the  close  of  the  under-kingdom  proclaim- 
ed that  the  north  was  brought  into  the  general  or- 
ganization of  the  English  realm.     The  policy  of  the 
great  ealdormanries,  however,  triumphed  again  over 
that  of  national   union.     Though   Eadred,  in   954, 
"took,"  like  ^thelstan,  "to    the   kingdom    of   the 
Northumbrians," '  he  made  no  attempt  to  restore 
the  direct  rule  of  ^thelstan's  early  years.     He  con- 
tented himself  with  reducing  the  under-kingdom  to 
an  earldom,  and  governing  it  through  an  English- 
man instead  of  a  Dane.     Oswulf,  who  had  till  now 
held  a  semi-independent  position  as  "  high-reeve  "  of 
Bernicia,  was  set  over  both  Bernicia  and  Deira  as 
earl  of  the  Northumbrians. 

Dunstan  seems  to  have  accompanied  the  kins:  ^'^'^-^-^^^^^z 
mto  North umbria  after  its  subjugation,  at  least  as  htry. 
far  as  Chester-le-Street,  where  he  saw  the  remains 
of  St.  Cuthbert  still  resting  in  the  temporary  refuge 
which  they  had  found  after  their  removal  from  Lin- 
disfarne ; '  and  it  was  probably  under  his  counsel 
that  Eadred  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  the  subject 
royalty  of  the  north  and  to  set  up  the  new  earldom 
of  the  Northumbrians.     The  abbot's  post  probably 

the  later  Saga  of  Hakon  the  Good  (Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  318),  which 
takes  this  Eric  for  a  son  of  Harald  Fair-hair,  who  enters  Northum- 
bria  for  plunder,  encounters  a  king  named  Olaf,  "  whom  King  Ead- 
mund  had  set  to  defend  the  land,"  and  falls  in  battle  against  fearful 
odds.  ^  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  954. 

'  Stubbs,  Memor.  S.  Dunstan,  p.  379. 


282       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  answered  in  some  way  to  that  of  the  later  chan- 
w^ex  cellor ; '  and  as  we  find  the  hoard  in  his  charge  at 
Danelaw,  the  end  of  the  reign,'  he  must  then  have  combined 

937^55  ^^^^  *^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^^  treasurer.  Of  the 
~  details  of  his  political  work,  however,  during  this 
period  nothing  is  told  us.  But  of  the  intellectual 
and  literary  work  which  he  was  carrying  on  through- 
out the  reign  we  are  allowed  to  see  a  little  more. 
It  was,  in  fact,  in  these  nine  years  that  the  more 
important  part  of  his  educational  work  was  done. 
If  much  of  his  time  was  necessarily  spent  at  Win- 
chester, or  with  the  royal  court,  the  bulk  of  it  seems 
still  to  have  been  given  to  his  Abbey  of  Glaston- 
bury, and  to  the  school  which  was  growing  up 
within  its  walls.  He  himself  led  the  way  in  the 
work  of  teaching.  Tradition  told  of  the  kindliness 
with  which  he  won  the  love  of  his  scholars,'  the 
psalms  sung  with  them  as  they  journeyed  together, 
the  vision  that  comforted  Dunstan  for  the  loss  of 
one  little  scholar  as  he  saw  the  child  borne  heav- 
enward in  the  arms  of  angels.  In  the  library  of 
Glastonbury  some  interesting  memorials  of  his  scho- 

'  In  949,  at  the  close  of  a  grant  to  Reculver,  we  find  "  Ego  Dun- 
stan indignus  abbas  rege  Eadredo  imperante  hanc  domino  meo 
hereditariam  Cartulam  dictitando  composui,  et  propriis  digitorum 
articulis  perscripsi"  (Cod.  Dip.  425). 

"  Stubbs,  Memor.  S.  Dunstan,  Introd.  pp.  Ixxxvi.  Ixxxvii. 

'  It  is  an  amusing  contrast  to  the  common  portraiture  of  Dun- 
stan, that  at  his  own  Canterbury,  a  hundred  years  after  his  death,  he 
was  regarded  as  the  patron  and  protector  of  school-boys.  Once,  in 
Anselm's  time,  when  the  yearly  whipping-day  arrived  for  the  Cathe- 
dral school,  the  poor  little  wretches  crowded  weeping  to  his  shrine 
and  sought  aid  from  their  "  dear  father  Dunstan."  Dunstan  it  was, 
so  every  school-boy  believed,  who  sent  the  masters  to  sleep,  and 
then  set  them  quarrelling  till  the  whipping  blew  over. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF  ENGLAND.  283 

lastic  work  were  preserved  even  to  the  time  of  the  cHAr.vi. 
Reformation :  books  on  the  Apocalypse,  a  collection  wessex 
of  canons  drawn  from  his  Irish  teachers,  passages  Df^eiaw. 
transcribed  from  Frank  and  Roman  law-books,  notes  93.^55 
on  measure  and  numbers,  a  pamphlet  on  grammar, 
a  mass  of  biblical  quotations,  tables  for  calculating 
Easter,  and  a  book  of  Ovid's  Art  of   Love  which 
jostled  oddly  with  an  English  homily  on  the  Inven- 
tion of  the  Cross.' 

From  its  remote   site    in  the  west,  Glastonbury  Jt^^^- 

fliience  on 

threw  off  an  offshoot  into  Central  Britain.  In  955  English 
i^thelwold,  Dunstan's  chief  scholar  and  assistant 
in  his  educational  work,  received  from  Eadred  a  gift 
of  the  Abbey  of  Abingdon,'  a  house  which  we  noted 
as  growing  up  in  the  eighth  century  by  the  side  of 
the  Thames,  and  which  had  since  been  ruined  by 
the  incursions  of  the  Danes.  Settling  there  with  a 
few  clerks  from  Glastonbury,"  the  new  abbot  soon 
gathered  a  school  whose  activity  more  than  rival- 


'  Memor.  S.  Dunstan,  Introd.  pp.  cx.-cxii.  "  Several  of  these 
pieces,"  says  Prof.  Stubbs,  "contain  British  glosses,  and  furnish 
some  of  the  earliest  specimens  of  Welsh." 

'  Chron.  Abingd.  (ed.  Stevenson),  i.  124.  ^thelwold  "disposu- 
it  ultra- marinas  partes  adire,  causa  se  imbuendi  seu  sacris  libris 
seu  monasticis  disciplinis  perfectius :  sed  praevenit  venerabilis  re- 
gina  Eadgifu,  mater  regis  Eadredi,  ejus  conamina,  dans  consilium 
regi  ne  talem  virum  sineret  egredi  de  regno  suo.  Placuit  tunc  regi 
Eadredo,  suadente  matre  sua,  dare  venerabili  Athelwoldo  quendam 
locum,  vocabulo  Abbandun."  —  Vit.  ^thelwoldi,  Chron.  Abingd. 
(ed.  Stevenson),  ii.  257.  Did  the  writ  "ne  exeas  regno"  already 
exist } 

'  "  Quem  statim  secuti  sunt  quidam  clerici  de  Glastonia,  hoc  est 
Osgarus,  Foldbirchtus,  Frithegarus,  et  Ordbirchtus  de  Wintonia,  et 
Eadricus  de  Lundonia." — Vit.  Ethelwoldi,  Chron.  Abingd.  (ed.  Ste- 
venson), ii.  258,  an  interesting  passage,  as  showing  from  how  wide 
a  range  Glastonbury  had  drawn. 


284  THE   CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  led  that  of  the  house  from  which  it  sprang.     From 
these    two  centres   the  movement  spread  through 


Wessex 
and  the 


937-955. 


Danelaw.  Wcsscx  and  Mcrcia.  In  both  the  impulse  given  by 
/Elfred  had  been  checked,  but  not  arrested,  by  the 
stress  of  war.  So  large  a  part  of  the  mass  of  our 
early  literature  has  been  lost  that  we  can  hardly 
draw  any  conclusion  from  the  scarcity  of  its  re- 
mains in  the  period  which  followed  the  king's  death ; 
indeed  the  larger  and  more  literary  tone  of  the  Eng- 
lish Chronicle  through  the  reign  of  Eadward  the 
Elder  is  a  sufficient  proof  that  the  earlier  intellect- 
ual movement  had  still  its  representatives  through 
the  first  years  of  the  struggle  with  the  Danelaw.* 
Even  when  in  .^thelstan  s  day  the  Chronicle  sinks 
into  meagre  annals,  a  fortunate  chance  reveals  to  us, 
in  the  battle-songs  and  death-songs  embedded  in  its 
pages,  the  existence  of  a  mass  of  English  verse  of 
which  all  memory  would  otherwise  have  perished. 
Side  by  side,  too,  with  this  statelier  song  we  catch 
glimpses  of  a  wilder  and  more  romantic  upgrowth 
of  popular  verse,  which  wrapped  in  an  atmosphere 
of  romance  the  lives  of  kings  such  as  ^thelstan 
and  Eadgar." 

Dunstan's  own  youth,  indeed,  his  zeal  for  letters, 

^  See  the  mention  by  William  of  Malmesbury  of  a  book  written  in 
.^thelstan's  time.     Gest.  Reg.  (ed.  Hardy),  i.  209. — (A.  S.  G.) 

^  Malmesbury  has  preserved  for  us  in  his  Gesta  Regum  prose  ver- 
sions of  some  of  these  ballads.  The  ballads  of  ^thelstan  are  :  (i ) 
The  Birth  of  the  King;  (2)  The  Drowning  of  Eadwine ;  (3)  The 
Craft  of  Aniaf.  There  are  besides  three  ballads  of  Eadgar:  (i) 
The  Slave  Queen ;  (2)  Eadgar  and  ^Ifthryth ;  (3)  Eadgar  and  the 
Scot-King.  How  vigorous  this  ballad  literature  was  we  see  from 
the  preservation  of  these  down  to  the  twelfth  century,  when  they 
were  introduced  by  the  writers  of  the  time  into  our  history,  much  to 
its  confusion. 


THE  CONQUEST   OF  ENGLAND.  285 

and  the  fact  that  he  found  books  and  teachers  to  chap,  vi. 
meet  his  zeal,  show  that  the  impulse  which  Alfred  wessex 
had  given  was  far  from  having  spent  its  force  in  his  Danelaw, 
grandson's  days.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  ^zr^. 
the  foundation  of  the  two  schools  at  Glastonbury 
and  Abingdon  gave  to  this  impulse  a  new  strength 
and  guidance.  It  is  from  them  that  we  must  date 
the  rise  of  the  second  old  English  literature,  a  liter- 
ature which  bears  the  stamp  of  Wessex,  as  the  first 
had  borne  the  stamp  of  Northumbria.  In  poetry 
this  literature  was  no  doubt  inferior  to  its  pred- 
ecessor; there  was  nothing  to  rival  the  verse  of 
Cadmon  or  the  poems  of  Cynewulf.  But  the  later 
time  may  justly  claim  as  its  own  the  creation  of  a 
stately  historic  verse,  of  which  fragments  remain  in 
the  battle-songs  of  Brunanburh  and  Maldon,  or  the 
death-songs  of  Eadgar  or  Eadward.  The  love  of 
poetry  was  seen  even  in  the  series  of  translations  to 
which  we  really  owe  our  knowledge  of  the  earlier 
Northumbrian  song.  Save  for  a  few  lines  embedded 
in  Baeda  or  graven  on  the  Rothewell  cross,  this 
mass  of  song  in  its  Northumbrian  dress  has  wholly 
vanished.  What  we  learn  of  Cadmon  or  the  lyrics 
we  have  only  in  the  West -Saxon  garb  which  was 
given  them  at  this  period,  and  which  witnesses  to 
a  new  thirst  for  poetry  in  the  south.  But  the  bulk 
of  the  work  done  in  this  later  time  was  a  work  of 
prose;  and  like  that  of  i^lfred,from  which  it  started, 
of  popular  prose.  Disappointed  as  we  may  be,  in  a 
literary  sense,  when  we  front  its  mass  of  homilies 
and  scriptural  versions  and  saints'  lives  and  gram- 
mar and  lesson  -  books,  they  tell  us  of  a  clergy 
quickened  to  a  new  desire  for  knowledge,  and  of 


286       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  a  like  quickening  of  educational  zeal  among  the 

wessex  people  at  large. 

Danelaw.      But  whatever  was  the  result  of  Dunstan's  literary 

937^55  work,  it  was  interrupted  by  Eadred's  death.  The 
—  ,  young  king  was  at  the  height  of  his  renown.  The 
death,  real  weakness  of  the  royal  power  had  yet  to  disclose 
itself,  and  the  presence  of  great  earls  or  ealdormen 
at  Eadred's  court  only  seemed  to  add  to  its  lustre. 
The  land  had  at  last  won  peace.  The  jarls  of  the 
north,  Urm  and  Grim,  and  Gunnar  and  Scule,  sat 
quietly  in  the  witenagemot  as  they  had  sat  in  the 
witenagemots  of  Ethels  tan.  There,  too,  sat  as 
quietly  the  princes  of  Wales,  Morecant  and  Owen." 
Such  a  mastery  of  Britain  raised  yet  higher  the 
pretensions  of  the  crown.  The  reorganization  of 
the  Roman  Empire  at  this  juncture  by  Otto  the 
Great,  and  the  claim  of  supremacy  which  the  em- 
peror put  forth  over  the  countries  of  the  west, 
may  have  given  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  assumption 
of  titles  which  not  only  expressed  the  new  might 
of  the  royal  power,  but  indicated  that  the  English 
king  held  himself  to  be  fellow  and  not  subject 
to  the  German."  It  is,  at  any  rate,  in  Eadred's 
last  year  of  rule  that  we  find  the  first  clear  in- 
stance of  the  use  of  a  strictly  imperial  style  in 
the  titles  of  our  king,  for  Eadred  not  only  styled 


^  Cod.  Dip.  426,  433.  When  Eadred  visits  Abingdon,  "  contingit 
adesse  sibi  non  paucos  venientes  gentis  Northanhymbrorum,"  who 
got  drunk  over  the  feast,  "  inebriatis  Northumbris  statim  ac  vesperi 
recedentibus." — Vit.  Ethelwoldi,  Chron.  Abingd.  (ed.  Stevenson),  ii. 
258. 

'  In  949  there  were  envoys  of  Eadred  at  Otto's  court  at  Aachen. 
— Lappenberg,  Hist.  Anglo-Sax.  ii.  156. 


THE  CONQUEST   OF  ENGLAND.  287 

himself  King  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  but  "  Caesar  of  chap,  vi. 
the  whole  of  Britain." '  What  exact  force  lay  in  wessex 
these  pompous  titles,  the  English  Chancery,  if  we  D^eiaw. 
may  use  the  term  of  a  later  time,  would  possibly  have  q^^^ 
found  it  hard  to  explain;  vague,  however,  as  they  — 
were,  they  no  doubt  expressed  in  some  sort  a  claim 
to  political  supremacy  over  the  whole  British  island 
as  complete  as  that  which  Otto  claimed  over  the 
western  world.  But  while  his  clerks  were  framing 
these  lofty  phrases,  the  king's  life  was  drawing  to  a 
close.  Throughout  his  reign  Eadred  had  fought 
against  sickness  and  w^eakness  of  body  as  nobly  as 
he  had  fought  against  the  Dane,"*  and  now  that  his 
work  was  done,  the  over-wrought  frame  gave  way. 
Dunstan  was  at  Glastonbury,  where  the  royal  Hoard 
was  then  in  keeping,  when  news  came  in  November, 
955,  that  the  king  lay  death-smitten  at  Frome."  The 
guardians  of  the  Hoard  were  bidden  to  bring  their 
treasures  that  Eadred  might  see  them  ere  he  died ; 
but  while  the  heavy  wains  were  still  toiling  along  the 
Somersetshire  lanes,*  the  death  -  howl  of  the  women 
about  the  court  told  the  abbot  as  he  hurried  onward 
that  the  friend  he  loved  was  dead.'  He  found  the 
corpse  already  forsaken,  for  the  thegns  of  the  court 
had  hurried  to  the  presence  of  the  new  king;  and 
Dunstan  was  left  alone  to  carry  Eadred  to  his  grave 
beside  Eadmund  at  Glastonbury. 


'  Cod.  Dip.  433. 

'  Sax.  biogr.,  Memor.  S.  Dunstan  (Stubbs),  p.  31. 

=•  Ibid. 

*  Eadred's  death  is  dated  Nov.  23,  955,  Eng.  Chron.  ad  ann. 

'  Vit.  Adelardi,  Memor.  S.  Dunstan  (Stubbs),  p.  58. 


288       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VI.  Note. — The  two  following  chapters  cannot  be  considered  as  ex- 
—       pressing  Mr.  Green's  final  view  of  the  political  state  of  England, 

^Tthe    ^"^  ^^  ^^^  relations  of  the  ealdormen  to  the  Crown,  in  the  tenth 

Danelaw,  century.  His  work  gn  this  period  was  cut  short  in  the  autumn  of 
— ■       1882  by  illness  and  the  necessity  for  leaving  England,  and  these 

937-955.  ^^Q  chapters  were  hurriedly  sketched  out,  and  then  laid  aside  for 
future  reconsideration.  In  now  printing  them  I  wish  to  state  clearly 
that  they  are  unfinished  work  which  had  yet  to  receive  the  final  ex- 
amination and  judgment  of  the  writer.  The  materials  for  Chapter 
Vn.  in  particular  had  not  been  put  into  any  order,  and  the  present 
arrangement  of  the  subjects  is  my  own. — (A.  S.  G.) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   GREAT   EALDORMEN. 
955-988. 

The  true  significance  of  English  history  during:  Political 

1          7    11  1     1         .    •  1        r     1        1  f  condition 

the  years  that  followed  the  triumph  of  the  house  of  of 
yElfred  over  the  Danelaw  lies  in  its  internal  political  ^"-^^^"'^• 
development.  Foreign  affairs  are  for  the  time  of 
little  import,  weighty  as  their  influence  had  been 
before,  and  was  again  to  be.  With  Eadred's  victory 
the  struggle  with  the  Danes  seemed  to  have  reached 
its  close. '  Stray  pirate  boats  still  hung  off  headland 
and  coast;  stray  wikings  still  shoved  out  in  spring 
tide  to  gather  booty.  But  for  nearly  half  a  century 
to  come  no  pirate  fleet  landed  on  the  shores  of 
Britain.  The  storm  against  which  she  had  battled 
seemed  to  have  drifted  away,  and  the  land  passed 
from  the  long  conflict  into  a  season  of  external 
peace.  It  is  in  the  social  and  political  changes  that 
were  passing  over  the  country  during  this  period, 
and  the  conflicting  tendencies  which  were  at  work 
in  producing  these  changes,  that  we  must  seek  for 
its  real  history.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  upgrowth 
of  a  feudal  aristocracy  was  going  on  side  by  side 
with  a  vast  development  in  the  power,  and  still 
more  in  the  pretensions,  of  the  crown.  The  same 
movement  which  in  other  lands  was  breaking  up 
every  nation  into  a  mass  of  loosely  knit  states,  with 

19 


290       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHARvii.  nobles  at  their  head  who  owned  little  save  a  nominal 
The  allegiance  to  their  king,  threatened  to  break  up 
^dom^^^' England  itself.  What  hindered  its  triumph  was 
955^88.  th^  power  of  the  crown,  and  it  is  the  story  of  the 
—  struggle  of  the  monarchy  with  these  tendencies  to 
provincial  isolation  which  fills  the  period  between 
the  conquest  of  the  Danelaw  and  the  conquest  of 
England  itself  by  the  Norman.  It  was  a  struggle 
which  England  shared  with  the  rest  of  the  western 
world,  but  its  issue  here  was  a  peculiar  one.  In 
other  countries  feudalism  won  an  easy  victory  over 
the  central  government.  In  England  alone  the 
monarchy  was  strong  enough  to  hold  it  at  bay.  But 
if  feudalism  proved  too  weak  to  conquer  the  mon- 
archy, it  was  strong  enough  to  paralyze  its  action. 
Neither  of  the  two  forces  could  master,  but  each 
could  weaken  the  other,  and  the  conflict  of  the  two 
could  disintegrate  England  as  a  whole.  From  the 
moment  when  their  rivalry  broke  into  actual  strife 
the  country  lay  a  prey  to  disorder  within  and  to  in- 
sult from  without. 
"^J^^^^j^  The  upgrowth  of  the  kingly  power  had  been 
brought  about,  as  we  have  seen,  by  a  number  of 
varied  influences.  It  had  drawn  new  strength  from 
the  dying-out  of  the  other  royal  stocks,  leaving  the 
house  of  Cerdic  alone,  and  from  the  high  character 
of  the  kings  of  ^^Ifred's  line.  A  long  series  of  vic- 
tories, the  constant  sight  and  recognition  of  the  king 
as  head  of  the  national  host,  and  the  religious  char- 
acter with  which  the  leadership  in  war  against  a 
heathen  foe  invested  him,  had  added  to  the  royal 
dignity;  and  new  claims  to  authority  had  sprung 
from  the  gradual  upbuilding  of  England,  and  the 


monai 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       291 

extent  of  dominion  brought  under  the  king's  rule,  chap,  vh. 
from  the  balance  of  Danish  and  anti-Danish  parties  The 
in  the  realm,  and  from  the  king's  position  as  com-  dormen." 
mon  political  centre  of  the  English  provinces.  95^88. 
Along  with  the  advance  thus  brought  about  in  the  — 
authority  of  the  crown,  there  went  on  a  change  in 
the  old  Teutonic  conception  of  kingship,  and  an 
imitation  of  imperial  claims  aided  by  intercourse  with 
the  imperial  court.  The  solemn  coronation  of  the 
king,  the  oath  of  fidelity,  the  identification  of  loyalty 
with  personal  troth  to  the  personal  king,  the  doctrine 
of  treason,  the  haughty  claims  to  a  far-reaching 
supremacy,  the  vaunting  titles  assumed  in  charters, 
all  point  to  a  new  conception  of  royalty.  But  the 
royal  claims  lay  still  far  ahead  of  the  real  strength 
of  the  crown.  There  was  a  want  of  administrative 
machinery  in  actual  connection  with  the  govern- 
ment, responsible  to  it,  drawing  its  force  directly 
from  it,  and  working  automatically  in  its  name  even 
in  moments  when  the  royal  power  was  itself  weak 
or  wavering.  The  king's  power  was  still  a  personal 
power.  He  had  to  be  everywhere  and  to  see  for 
himself  that  everything  he  willed  was  done.  Rest- 
ing on  feeling,  on  tradition,  on  personal  character, 
the  crown  was  strong  under  a  king  who  was  strong, 
whose  personal  action  was  felt  everywhere  through- 
out the  realm,  whose  dread  lay  on  every  reeve  and 
ealdorman.  But  with  a  weak  king  the  crown  was 
weak.  Ealdormen,  provincial  Witenagemots,  local 
jurisdictions,  ceased  to  move  at  the  royal  bidding 
the  moment  direct  pressure  was  loosened  or  re- 
moved. Enfeebled  as  they  were,  the  old  provincial 
jealousies,  the  old  tendency  to  severance  and  isola- 


Great  Eal- 
dormen. 

95^988. 

The  Eah 


292  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

cHARvii.  tion  lingered  on,  and  woke  afresh  when  the  crown 
The     fell  to  a  nerveless  ruler  or  to  a  child. 

At  the  moment  we  have  reached,  the  royal  power 
and  the  national  union  it  embodied  had  to  battle 
with  the  impulse  given  to  these  tendencies  towards 

^dormen.  national  disintegration  by  the  struggle  with  the 
Northman.  We  have  seen  how  the  spirit  of  feudal- 
ism was  aided  and  furthered  by  the  Danish  wars, 
by  the  growth  of  commendation  and  the  decrease  of 
free  allodial  owners,  and  by  the  importance  given  to 
the  military  temper.  In  the  ealdormen  themselves 
the  feudal  spirit  was  strengthened  by  the  memories 
of  provincial  independence,  and  by  the  continued 
existence  of  what  had  once  been  older  kingdoms 
and  diverse  peoples,  as  well  as  by  the  retention  of 
their  popular  life  in  the  survival  of  their  old  judicial 
and  administrative  forms.  Popular  feeling  and 
feudal  tendencies  went,  in  fact,  hand  in  hand.  The 
new  ealdormen  created  by  the  later  West-Saxon 
kings  had  hardly  taken  their  place  as  mere  lieuten- 
ants of  the  national  sovereign  before  they  again  be- 
gan to  rise  into  petty  kings,  and  in  the  century 
which  follows  we  see  Mercian  or  Northumbrian 
thegns  following  a  Mercian  or  Northumbrian  eal- 
dorman  to  the  field,  though  it  were  against  the  lord 
of  the  land.  Even  the  constitutional  forms  which 
sprang  from  the  old  English  freedom  tend.ed  to  in- 
vest these  higher  nobles  with  a  commanding  power. 
In  the  "great  meeting"  of  the  Witenagemot,  or 
Assembly  of  the  Wise,  lay  the  rule  of  the  realm,  but 
distance  and  the  hardships  of  travel  made  the  pres- 
ence of  the  lesser  thegns  as  rare  as  that  of  the  free- 
men ;  and  the  ealdormen  became  of  increasing  im- 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  293 

portance  in  the  national  council.     The  old  English  chap.vh. 
democracy  had  thus  all  but  passed  into  an  oligarchy     The 
of  the  narrowest  kind.     But  powerful  as  they  might  ^domML^' 
be,  the  English  ealdormen  never  succeeded  in  be-  gg^gg 
coming   really   hereditary    or   independent   of    the 
crown.     Kings  as  weak  as  yEthelred  could  drive 
them  into  exile  and  replace  them  by  fresh  nominees. 
If  the   Witenagemot  enabled  the  great  nobles  to 
bring  their  power  to  bear  directly  on  the  crown,  it 
preserved,  at  any  rate,  a  feeling  of  national  unity, 
and  was  ready  to  back  the  crown  against  individual 
revolt.     The  Church,  too,  never  became  feudalized. 
The  bishop  clung  to  the  crown,  and  the  bishop  re- 
mained a  great  social  and  political  power.     As  local 
in  area  as  the  ealdorman,  for  the  province  was  his 
diocese  and  he  sat  by  the  side  of  the  ealdorman  in 
the   local    Witenagemot,  he  furnished   a   standing 
check  on  the  independence  of  the  great  nobles. 

The  death  of  Eadred  formed  the  occasion  for  an  ^'^^^^ 
immediate  outbreak  of  political  strife.  The  flight 
of  the  thegns  from  his  death-bed  was  the  sign  of  a 
court  revolution.  Eadred  had  died  childless,  but,, 
his  brother  Eadmund  had  left  two  children,  Eadwig 
and  Eadgar,  and  the  eldest  of  these  was  now  called 
to  the  throne.'  Mere  boy  of  fifteen  as  he  was,''  we 
find  the  new  king  the  centre  of  an  opposition  party, 
hostile  to  the  system  of  Eadred's  reign.'     In  its  out- 

^  As  he  mounted  the  throne  in  November,  955,  and  died  in  Octo- 
ber, 958,  Eadwig's  reign  covers  hardly  three  years. 

^  Stubbs,  Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  Ixxxviii. 

^  Ibid.  Robertson  (Hist.  Essays,  p.  191)  conjectures  from  Dunstan's 
connection  with  the  East-Anglian  house  and  Eadgifu,  as  from  the 
combination  of  ''his  own  disciples"  against  him  at  this  time,  that 
"  he  had  allied  himself  with  the  party  in  the  state  opposed  to  the 


955-988. 


294       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VII.  set  the  struggle  seems  to  have  been  one  for  influ- 
The     ence  between  the  kindred  of  the  king,  the  leading 

^dorme^^^"  nobles  of  Wessex/  and  the  three  who  had  directed 
affairs  in  Eadred's  name — his  mother  Eadgifu,  the 
great  ealdorman  of  East  Anglia,  and  Abbot  Dun- 
stan  of  Glastonbury.  In  this  struggle  the  first  party 
proved  successful.  The  charters  of  the  time  show 
that  the  king's  kinsmen,  ^^Ifhere,  ^Ifheah,  and 
/Ethelmaer,  stand  at  this  time  first  among  his  coun- 
sellors," while  Eadgifu  was  driven  from  court,  as  well 
as  bereft  of  her  property.'  The  half-king,  Ealdor- 
man ^thelstan,  however,  and  Dunstan*  held  their 
ground '  at  court  for  a  while,  in  spite  of  the  efforts 
of  y^thelgifu,  a  woman  of  high  lineage,  whose  in- 
fluence over  Eadwig  had  played  no  slight  part  in 
the  change  of  counsellors.  Darker  tales  floated 
about  of  ^thelgifu's  purpose  to  wed  the  boy-king 

leading  nobility  of  Wessex,  who  were  the  principal  characters  round 
the  throne  during  the  reigns  of  ^thelstan  and  Eadmund." 

'  The  Saxon  biographer  says  that  most  of  Eadmund's  nobles 
"  lapsed  from  the  path  of  rectitude" — that  is,  opposed  Dunstan  and 
his  fellow-rulers. 

'  The  second  charter  of  Eadwig  is  a  grant  to  ^Ifhere  as  his  "  kins- 
man," descended  "a  carissimis  predecessoribus."  —  Cod.  Dip.  437. 
This  was  the  Mercian  ealdorman  of  later  days.  The  assertion  of 
the  twelfth-century  biographers  of  Dunstan  that  Eadwig  banished 
his  kinsmen  from  court  "  is  contradicted  by  every  grant  and  charter 
of  his  reign." — Robertson,  Hist.  Essays,  p.  193. 

^  She  says  herself,  "  Eadred  died,  and  Eadgifu  was  bereft  of  all  her 
property." — Cod.  Dip.  499. 

*  Osbern  (sec.  25)  accuses  Eadwig  of  from  the  first  changing  his 
counsellors,  "  despectis  majoribus  natu,  puerorum  consilia  sectaba- 
tur,"  of  pillaging  rich  people  and  churches,  and  of  plundering  and 
outraging  the  queen-mother,  Eadgifu.  Osbern  also  says  that  Dun- 
stan, by  threats  and  exhortations,  opposed  all  this  and  the  marriage  ; 
but,  finding  his  efforts  vain,  withdrew. 

'  Dunstan  signs  charters  till  the  coronation  :  ^thelstan  still  signs 
at  the  head  of  the  ealdormen  to  the  close  of  the  year. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       295 

to  her  daughter,  a  marriage  which  from  their  kin-  chap.vh. 
ship  in  blood  the  rehgious  opinion  of  the  day  re-     The 
garded  as  incestuous ;  and  when  the  Witan  gathered  ^JomeiL 
to  crown  Eadwig,  the  jealousy  of  the  two  parties,  gg^gg 
as  well  as  the  irritation  which  her  influence  caused,     — 
was  seen  in  a  strife  at  the  coronation  feast.' 

To  realize  the  import  of  this  strife,  we  must  recall  V'^  ^ 
the  sacred  associations  that  hung  round  the  crown-  parties. 
ing  of  a  king."  It  was  in  itself  a  solemn  office  of 
the  Church.  It  was  the  primate  of  the  whole  Eng- 
lish people  who  called  on  the  people  for  their  "  yea  " 
or  "  nay."  The  king's  vow  to  govern  rightly  was 
given  before  the  altar.  He  was  anointed  with  holy 
oil.  The  crown  was  set  on  his  head  by  priestly 
hands.  The  prayers  of  the  multitude  went  up  for 
him  to  heaven  as  he  was  "  hallowed  to  king."  With 
the  new  sacredness  about  him,  still  crowned  with 
the  royal  crown,  still  clad  in  the  royal  robes  that 
bishops  and  priests  had  put  upon  him,  his  hair  still 
dripping  with  the  holy  oil,  the  new  ruler  passed  from 
church  to  guest -hall,  and  sat  for  the  first  time 
amidst  Witan  and  people  gathered  in  solemn  feast 
before  him  as  their  consecrated  head.  But  the 
sense  of  his  hallowing  fell  lightly  on  Eadwig. 
Withdrawing  on  slight  pretext  from  the  coronation 
feast,  he  delayed  his  return,  till  whispers  ran  through 
the  hall  that  he  had  retired  to  his  own  chamber  and 
the  society  of  y^thelgifu.'  The  slight  stung  nobles 
and  bishops  to  the  quick ;  and  though  Archbishop 

*  The  coronation  feast  took  place  on  the  first  or  second  Sunday  af- 
ter the  Epiphany,  956. — Stubbs,  Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  Ixxxviii. 

'  Stubbs  (Const.  Hist.  i.  170)  gives  the  history  of  our  coronations. 

'  Will.  Malm.,  Vit.  Dunst.,  sec.  26,  "  Ille  quasi  ventris  desiderio  pul- 
satus,  primo  in  secretum,  mox  in  triclinium  foeminarum  concessit." 


2q6       the  conquest  of  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.viL  Odo  stilled  the  uproar,  the  Witan  bade  Dunstan 
The     and  Bishop  Kynesige  of  Lichfield  bring  back  the 
^dome^^^'king,  willing  or  unwilling/     The  envoys  found  Ead- 
955^88.  wig  between  ^thelgifu  and  her  daughter,  the  crown 
—     flung  heedlessly  at   his  feet.     Hot  words  passed; 
and  as  the  boy  refused  to  rise,  Dunstan  carried  out 
the  bidding  of  the  Witan  by  dragging  him  with  his 
own  hand  td  the  guest-hall,  and  setting  him  in  his 
kingly  seat'     The  deed  was  one  not  likely  to  be 
forgiven,  either  by  Eadwig  or  by  ^^thelgifu,  whom 
the  abbot  in  his  wrath  at  her  resistance  had  threat- 
ened with  death;  and  as  the  year  went  on  he  felt 
the  weight  of  her  hand.     Dunstan  was  driven  from 
the    realm   by   a   sentence  of  outlawry;  and   men 
charged  to  tear  out  his  eyes  reached  the  shore  as  he 
put  out  to  sea  and  steered  for  the  coast  of  Flanders,' 
where  Arnulf  gave  him  shelter  in  the  great  abbey, 
just   restored   by   the    count's    munificence,  beside 
which  the  town  of  Ghent  was  growing  up. 

*  "  Volentem  vel  nolentem." — Sax.  Biog.  sec.  21. 

'  Such  seems  the  simple  story  of  an  event  on  which  "much  has 
been  written,  and  an  amount  of  criticism  spent  altogether  out  of 
proportion  to  the  materials  for  its  history." — Stubbs,  Memor.  St. 
Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  Ixxxix.  The  account  given  by  our  earliest  author- 
ity, the  Saxon  biographer,  and  of  which  all  later  stories  are  but  ex- 
aggerations, attributes,  indeed,  the  whole  outbreak  to  a  monstrous 
lust  of  Eadwig  for  both  ^thelgifu  and  her  daughter.  We  may  dis- 
miss this  the  more  easily  that  its  narrator  clearly  forgets  that  Ead- 
wig was  a  mere  boy,  that  the  daughter  became  Eadwig's  queen  not 
a  year  later,  and  that  what  remains,  after  dismissing  this  scandal,  is 
quite  enough  to  account  for  the  event.  His  story,  it  must  be  re- 
membered, was  written  forty  years  after  the  occurrence,  and  here  is 
clearly  not  derived  from  Dunstan  himself. 

^  Sax.  Biog.  sec.  23.  The  importance  of  his  withdrawal  to  Ghent 
is  well  shown  by  Stubbs  (Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  cxx.).  The 
Saxon  biographer  calls  it  "  ignotam  jam  regionem  dictu  Gallise,  cu- 
jus  pcene  loquelam  ritumque  ignorabat." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  297 

The  triumph  of  the  rival  party  was  completed  at  chap.vh. 
the  close  of  the  year  by  the  withdrawal  to  a  monas-     The 
tery   of  the  "half- king,"  ^thelstan,  whose  ealdor- ^dorL^^" 
manry  seems  for  a  tim.e  to  have  been  parted  between  95^33 
his  four  sons.     But  the  price  of  this  triumph  had  to  jy^""^^ 
be  paid  in  a  new  disintegration  of  the  realm.     Be-  cianeai- 
fore  the  end  of  the  same  year,  956,  the  leader  of  the  '"'"''^'''^* 
king's  kin,  ^Ifhere,  was  made    ealdorman  of  the 
Mercians.     The  revival  of  the  Mercian  ealdorm.anry 
was  a  far  more  significant  step  than  the  creation  of 
the  ealdormanries  that  had  preceded  it ;  for  while 
they  had  been  but  divisions  of  the  Danelaw,  this 
was  a  parting  of  that  purely  English  kingdom  of  the 
''  Angul-Saxons  "  w^hich  Eadward  had  formed  by  the 
union  of  Wessex  and  of  Mercia,  and  which  had  served 
ever  since  as  the  nucleus  of  the  growing  realm.'    And  - 
not  only  was  this  inner  and  purely  English  kingdom 
broken  up,  but  it  was  broken  into  two  nearly  equal 
parts.     In  extent,  in  population,  in  wealth,  the  Mer- 
cian ealdormanry,  stretching  as  it  did  from  Bristol  to 
Manchester  and  from  the  Watling  Street  to  Offa's 
Dyke,"  was  little   inferior   to   the    region  south  of 
Thames  which  w^as  left  to  the  king.     The  court  rev- 
olution, in  fact,  had  ended  in  prisoning  Eadwig  with- 
in the  limits  of  a  dominion  which  was  hardly  larger 
than  the  dominion  of  any  one  of  his  own  ealdormen," 

*  Amidst  all  the  changes  of  the  royal  style,  the  one  phrase  which 
the  Chancery  always  falls  back  upon,  as  really  descriptive  of  the 
character  of  the  realm  which  the  House  of  Alfred  had  built  up,  is 
"  King  of  the  Angul-Saxons,  and  of  the  peoples  that  lie  about  them." 

'■^  It  was,  in  the  main,  coextensive  with  the  Mercia  of  ^thelred  and 
^thelflaed,  save  in  the  valley  of  the  Thames,  which  may  have  passed 
to  the  East-Saxon  ealdormanry. 

'  As  to  the  order  of  events  in  956,  we  gain  no  information  from 
chronicle  or  biographers.    The  charters,  however,  give  a  few  hints 


2o8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VII.  and  in  leaving  him  at  the  mercy  of  the  four  great 
The     houses  who  parted  all  the  rest  of  Britain  between 

Great  Eal-  ,  i 
dormeu.    tnem. 

How  helpless  the  crown  had  become  in  face  of 
these  great  houses  was  shown  by  the  events  that 
followed.  The  two  court  parties  who  had  tri- 
umphed over  Dunstan  and  ^thelstan  quarrelled 
over  their  victory.  They  had  won  the  king,  but 
their  joint  possession  was  disturbed  when  -^thel- 
gifu,  in  957,  wedded  her  daughter  ^Ifgifu '  to  Ead- 
wig,  and  the  jealousy  of  the  king's  kin  was  shown 
by  their  withdrawal  from  the  king's  court,  as  well*as 
by  their  persuading  his  younger  brother,  Eadgar,  to 
join  in  this  withdrawal."      For  a  while  Archbishop 

which  I  have  used  in  the  text,  (i)  That  for  some  months  of  the 
year  Dunstan  and  ^Ethelstan  remained  counsellors  at  court  is  shown 
by  their  joint  signatures  to  several  charters  {e.g.  Cod.  Dip.  1191, 1196, 
1197),  in  which  ^thelstan  still  signs  first  among  the  "  duces,"  while 
-^Ifhere  still  signs  as  "comes"  or  '* minister."  (2)  In  a  smaller 
group  Dunstan's  name  is  no  longer  found  ;  but^thelstan  still  signs 
at  the  head  of  the  "duces,"  and  ^Ifhere  remains  "minister"  {e.g. 
Cod.  Dip.  1 198).  (3)  In  a  third,  ^thelstan  still  signs  first,  but  ^If- 
here  signs  as  "  dux,"  no  doubt  as  Ealdorman  of  Mercia  {e.g.  Cod.  Dip. 
1179,  1 181,  1182,  1183,  1 184,  1 185,  1186,  1187,  1 188,  1189,  1190,  1192, 
II 93, 1 194,  1 199,  etc.).  (4)  ^thelstan  disappears,  and  -^Ifhere  signs 
as  head  of  the  "duces"  {e.g.  Cod.  Dip.  1207).  (There  is  a  second 
and  inferior  "^thelstan  dux,"  whose  signature  has  gone  on  side  by 
side  with  the  first,  and  who  signs  on  into  the  next  year ;  but  he  is 
clearly  distinguishable  from  the  East -Anglian  ealdorman  by  the 
position  of  his  signature.)  As  the  last  charters  are  few,  we  may 
suppose  that  ^thelstan  only  withdrew  from  court  towards  the  end 
of  the  year. 

^  Cod.  Dip.  1 201.  An  exchange  of  lands  is  witnessed  by  "^Ifgifu, 
the  king's  wife,  and  ^thelgifu,  the  king's  wife's  mother,"  besides 
three  bishops  and  one  ealdorman,  Byrhtnoth. 

"  The  charters  show  that  Eadgar  remained  with  his  brother  up  to 
May,  957  (Cod.  Dip.  465),  We  are,  however,  far  less  aided  by  these 
documents  than  in  956,  when  their  number  is  very  large — perhaps 
from  the  abundance  of  coronation  grants.     In  957  we  have  but  few, 


965-988. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       299 

Odo  remained  at  court,  though  denouncing  the  mar-  chap.vii. 
riage  as  against  Church  law;  but  before  the  year     The 
ended   the  disregard  of  his  remonstrances  forced  domen." 
him  also  to  retire,  and  his  solemn  sentence  "  parted 
King  Eadwig  and  ^Ifgifu,  for  that  they  were  of     — 
kin."  '     The  sentence  was  at  once  followed  by  a 
general  revolt.     The  new  ealdorman  whom  Eadwig 
had  set  over   Mid  -  Britain  was  the   first   to   move 
against  him ;  for  it  could  but  have  been  at  ^Ifhere's 
bidding  that  the  Mercians  rose  and  chose  Eadgar 
for  their  king."     The  ealdormanries  of  the  eastern 

and  there  is  little  to  show  to  what  part  of  the  year  they  belong.  In 
one  group  we  find  Eadgar  and  the  full  court  as  at  the  close  of  956 
(Cod.  Dip.  463, 465,  May  9) ;  in  another,  though  Archbishop  Odo  and 
the  bishops  remain,  Eadgar  and  yElfhere  are  both  missing  {e.g.  Cod. 
Dip.  467, 468,  where  but  two  "  duces  "  sign,  Eadmund  and  ^thelsige) ; 
in  a  third,  Odo  is  added  to  the  number  of  absentees,  there  are  few 
bishops,  while  to  the  duces,  Eadmund  and  ^thelsige,  are  added 
iElfred,  ^Ifric,  and  ^Ifsige  (Cod.  Dip.  1209,  12 10). 

'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  958.  Of  this  separation  the  Saxon  biographer 
and  Adelard  say  nothing,  while  Osbern  gives  another  tale.  ' 

^  As  we  have  seen,  the  revolt  cannot  have  been  earlier  than  May, 
and  as  Odo  remained  after  Eadgar's  withdrawal,  probably  not  ear- 
lier than  the  later  months  of  the  year.  On  the  other  hand,  it  "  can- 
not be  later  than  the  spring  of  958,  as  in  that  year  Eadgar  begins  to 
issue  charters  as  king." — Stubbs,  Memor.  St.Dunst.,Introd.  pp.  Ixxxix., 
xc).  The  assertion  of  Dunstan's  biographers  that  it  arose  out  of 
Eadwig's  attacks  on  monks,  is  a  confusion  of  this  struggle  with  the 
struggle  after  Eadgar's  death.  Robertson  (Historical  Essays,  p.  193) 
says,  justly  enough,  "  Eadwig  is  accused  of  dissolving  the  monaster- 
ies of  Glastonbury  and  Abingdon,  and  of  banishing  the  Benedictines 
from  England ;  yet  he  was  the  earliest  benefactor  of  Abingdon,  for 
his  grants  of  Ginge  and  other  lands,  in  956,  are  realities,  while  the 
charter  of  Eadred,  dated  in  955  and  witnessed  by  Oscytel,  as  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  is  a  forgery,  ^thelwold,  '  father  of  the  monks,' 
with  ^Ifric  of  Malmesbury  and  two  other  abbots,  attest  his  latest 
charter  in  959 ;  the  clergy  as  well  as  the  laity  of  Wessex  were  his 
stanchest  supporters — ^Ifwold,  recommended  for  the  see  of  Cre- 
diton  by  Dunstan,  Daniel,  and  Brithelm  of  Wells,  among  the  bishops 
of  his  party,  are  claimed  by  Malmesbury  as  alumni  of  Glastonbury — 


300 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


CHAP.  VII.  coast,  however,  with    the   Five   Boroughs  and    the 

The      Northumbrian  earldom,  must  have  joined  -^Ifhere 

^dome^n^^'in  his  revolt,  for  the  whole  land  north  of  the  Thames 

955^88   ^^^^  owned  the  rule  of  Eadgar,  and  only  Wessex 

—     remained  faithful  to  Eadwig.'     On  the  young  king's 

part  no  resistance  seems  to  have  been  possible;  a 


and  there  were  no  Benedictines  at  that  time  in  England  to  drive 
away.  The  struggle  between  secular  and  regular  began  in  the  reign 
of  Eadgar,  and  was  antedated  long  afterwards  to  throw  odium  on 
Edwy.  If  Dunstan  was  among  the  supporters  of  Eadgar,  Edwy 
could  point  to  ^thelwold  as  his  follower;  for  the  contest  was 
fought  on  political  grounds,  and  not  about  a  question  of  ecclesias- 
tical discipline." 

^  Will.  Malmesbury  (Vit.  Dunst.  lib.  ii.  sec.  3)  says  the  W^est  Sax- 
ons rose  too,  but  reconciled  themselves  to  Eadwig,  perhaps  on  his 
abandonment  of  his  wife.  Of  the  northern  rising  our  knowledge  is 
small.  It  is  mentioned  in  only  one  chronicle,  and  then  under  a 
wrong  year.  The  Saxon  biographer  of  Dunstan  calls  it  vaguely  a 
rising  of  the  "  northern  people  "  ("  a  Brumali  populo  relinqueretur ;" 
so  Eadgar  is  chosen  king  of  the  "  Brumales  "),  but  gives  no  definition 
of  them.  With  Osbern,  who  is  the  first  to  give  a  detailed  account 
of  this  revolution,  it  was  strictly  a  rising  of  the  Mercians,  "  virorum 
ab  Humbre  fluvio  usque  ad  Tamesium  "  (sec.  28).  Eadwig,  he  says, 
was  in  Mercia  when  the  sudden  rising  took  place.  "  Coacti  in  tur- 
bam  regem  cum  adultera  fugitantem  atque  in  inviis  sese  occultan- 
tem  armis  persequi  non  desistunt.  Et  ipsam  quidem  juxta  Clau- 
diam  civitatem  repertam  subnervavere  deinde  qua  morte  digna 
fuerat  mulctavere.  Porro  regem  per  diversa  lororum  semestra  devi- 
antem  ultra  flumen  Tamisium  compulere  "  (ibid.).  Eadgar  is  then 
chosen  king  "  super  omnes  provincias  ab  Humbre  usque  ad  Tamisi- 
um," and  war  follows  for  a  while.  In  all  this  Eadmer  follows  Osbern. 
The  signatures,  however,  of  Archbishop  Oscytel  and  of  many  north- 
ern jarls  to  Eadgar's  charter  of  959  (Cod.  Dip.  480),  when  Eadgar  is 
"totius  Merciae  provinciae  necnon  et  aliorum  gentium  in  circuitu 
persistentium  gubernator  et  rector,"  and  which  is  attested  by  Dun- 
stan of  London  and  other  Mercian  bishops,  show  Northumbria  and 
East  Anglia  as  taking  equal  part  with  Mercia  in  the  revolt.  .^If- 
here  signs  first  among  the  ealdormen,  followed  by  .^thelstan  and 
^thelwold  of  East  Anglia.  Of  northern  names  we  see  "  Oskytel 
dux,"  and  Sigwulf,  Ulfkytel,  Rold,  Dragmel,  Thurferth,  and  Thurcy- 
tel,  among  the  "  ministri." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^OI 

joint  meeting  of  the  Mercian  and  West-Saxon  Wite-  chap.vh. 
nagemots  agreed  on  the  division  of  the  realm,  and     The 
the  Thames  was  fixed  as  the  boundary  between  the  ^dome"^^' 
dominions  of  the  two  brothers.'  965I988. 

The  importance  of  the  revolution  lay  in  its  reve-  — 
lation  of  the  weakness  of  the  monarchy.  At  its  first 
clash  with  the  forces  it  had  itself  built  up  the  realm 
of  Eadward  and  ^thelstan  shrank  helplessly  into  its 
original  Wessex.  The  Danelaw  with  English  Mer- 
cia  again  fronted  the  West  -  Saxon  king,  as  it  had 
fronted  him  when  Guthrum  marched  to  complete 
the  work  of  the  Northmen  by  the  reduction  of 
southern  Britain  ;  and  it  was  now  organized  into  a 
single  political  body,  owning  the  rule  of  Eadgar, 
"  King,"  as  he  called  himself,  "  of  the  Mercians,"  or 
"  of  the  Engle." '  Eadgar  showed  his  independence 
by  recalling  Dunstan  from  exile,  and  appointing 
him  in  full  Witenagemot  to  the  successive  sees  of 
Worcester  and  of  London.'  Eadwig,  on  the  other 
hand,  lay  isolated  in  Wessex,  and  was  driven  even 
there  to  submit  to  the  forces  of  revolt.  In  the 
spring  of  958  Odo  ended  the  strife  between  the 
Church  and  the  king  by  gathering  an  armed  band, 
riding  to  the  hall  where  the  queen  was  dwelling, 
seizing  her,  and  carrying  her  out  of  the  realm.  The 
blow  seems  to  have  been  followed  by  a  threat  of  de- 

'  "  Sicque,  universo  populo  testante,  res  regum  diffinitione  saga- 
cium  sejuncta  est,  ut  famosum  flumen  Tamesis  regnum  disterminat 
amborum."— Sax.  Biog.  sec.  24. 

^  In  the  first  of  Eadgar's  charters  of  this  date  (Cod.  Dip.  471),  one 
of  958,  attested  by  the  bishops  of  Dorchester,  Lichfield,  Hereford, 
Lindsey,  and  Worcester,  he  styles  himself  "  Rex  Anglorum."  In  the 
second,  of  959,  he  is  "  Rex  Merciorum  "  (Cod.  Dip.  480). 

^  As  Dunstan  was  consecrated  by  Odo,  he  must  have  returned  be- 
fore June,  958. 


^02       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.vir.  position,  and  Eadwig  at  last  submitted  to  the  arch- 
Th^     bishop's  sentence.'     From  that  moment  he  remained 

^dorme^n^^' powerless  in  the  hands  of  Odo  and  of  his  grand- 

955^^88  another,  Eadgifu,  who  returned  to  court,  where  she 
—  no  doubt  again  resumed  her  power,"  and  after  the 
archbishop's  death  must  have  acted  as  sole  ruler. 
In  959,  however,  the  death  of  the  boy-king  of  Wes- 
sex  put  an  end  to  the  outer  seeming  of  disunion. 
The  King  of  Mercia  was  received  as  their  king  by 
the  West  Saxons ;  and  the  unity  of  the  monarchy 
was  again  restored  under  the  rule  of  Eadgar. 

The  West-     Thg  £j-st  mcasurcs  of  the  government,  however, 

Saxon  eal'  i       •     i  •         i        i 

dormeii.  showcd  how  Utterly  it  lay  m  the  hands  of  the  great 
ealdormen  of  East  Anglia  and  Mercia,  whose  co- 
operation had  placed  Eadgar  on  the  throne.  Their 
aid  had  to  be  paid  for ;  and  the  payment  they  chose 
was  the  extension  of  ealdormanries  over  the  last  re- 
maining part  of  Britain,  over  Wessex  itself.  From 
Ecgberht's  day  at  least,  Wessex  had  been  divided 
into  shires,  with  an  ealdorman  and  shire-reeve  at  the 
head  of  each ;  but  the  natural  configuration  of  the 
ground,  as  well  as  the  course  of  history,  had  gathered 
these  shires  into  three  great  groups:  those  of  the 

'  The  Life  of  Oswald,  by  a  Ramsey  monk  (in  Raine,  Hist.  Ch.  of 
York,  vol.  i.),  written  between  995  and  1005,  gives  the  earliest  de- 
tailed account  of  this.  "  Antistes  (Odo) .  .  .  repente  cum  sociis  equ- 
um  ascendit,  et  ad  villam  qua  mulier  mansitabat  pervenit  eamque 
rapuit  et  de  regno  perduxit,  regemque  dulcibus  ammonuit  verbis 
pariterque  factis,  ut  ab  impiis  actibus  custodiret  se,  ne  periret  de 
via  justa."  This  is  probably  from  the  information  of  Oswald,  Odo's 
nephew,  and  disposes  of  the  later  stories  of  Osbern  and  Eadmer. 

"^  A  charter,  attested  by  Odo  and  Eadgifu  (Cod.  Dip.  1224),  shows 
their  return  to  court ;  and  as  Odo  seems  to  have  died  in  June,  958 
(Stubbs,  Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  xcv.),  the  reconciliation  must 
have  been  early  in  the  year. 


EINTGLAND 

UNDER  THE    EALDORMEN 

(As  developed    by 
M'.      Robertson) 


■W.Ur.O  £.Gr. 


;^-^:f^ 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  303 

"  Central  Provinces,"  or  the  "  shires  about  Winches-  chap^vii. 
ter,"  those  of  the  old  Eastern  or  Kentish  kingdom,     The 
and  those  of  the  Wealhcyn  beyond  Selwood  in  the^dome^*^' 
West.     These  traditional  divisions  were  taken  as  gg^gs 
the  basis  of  a  new  organization.     ^Ifhere  was  now,     — 
as  he  remained   throughout  the  reign,'   the   main 
power  at  the  young  king's  court ;  and  immediately 
on  Eadgar's  accession  to  the  West-Saxon  throne,  in- 
deed, before  the  close  of  the  year,  the  Mercian  eal- 
dorman  received  his  reward  in  the   raising  of  his 
brother   ^Ifheah   to  the   ealdormanry   of   Central 
Wessex,  the  ealdormanry — as  it  is  sometimes  called 
— of  Southampton ;  while  about  966  the  East-An- 
glian ealdorman,  ^thelwine,  exacted  a  like  return 
in  the  elevation  of  Ordgar '  to  the  ealdormanry  of 
the  Wealhcyn.     Ordgar  and  ^Ifheah  were  both  of     . 
the  royal  kin,  both  had  stood  foremost  in  the  group 
of  nobles  about  Eadwig ; '  and  their  rise  may  have 

*  Throughout  the  numerous  charters  of  Eadgar's  reign,  the  order 
of  signature  in  the  attestations  is  mainly  the  same.  From  begin- 
ning to  end,  almost,  ^Ifhere  and  his  brother  ^Ifheah  sign  first ; 
then  the  ealdormen  of  the  East-Anglian  house  —  ^thelstan  and 
^thelwold ;  then  Byrhtnoth,  perhaps  Ealdorman  of  Essex ;  then 
the  "duces"  Eadmund  and  .^thelmund.  In  962  the  place  of  ^th- 
elwold  (who  dies  then)  is  taken  by  his  brother  ^thclwine.  In  963 
(Cod.  Dip.  504)  we  find  the  first  signature  of  Oslac  as  "  dux,"  though 
the  Chronicle  places  his  elevation  to  the  Northumbrian  earldom  in 
966.  From  966  we  find  Ordgar  appearing  among  the  duces :  per- 
haps raised  as  father-in-law  of  Eadgar,  who  married  in  965  his 
daughter  ^Ifthryth  (  Eng.  Chron.  a.  965 ).  In  969  Eadwulf  and 
Bryhtferth  (who  has  till  now  stood  at  the  head  of  the  "ministri") 
are  added  to  the  number  of  "duces,"  and  in  97$  we  have  a  "dux 
^Ifsige."  ^Ifheah  and  Ordgar  seem  to  have  died  during  Eadgar's 
reign,  as  their  signatures  are  missing  in  the  later  charters. 

"  Ordgar  was  the  father  of  iElfthryth,  the  wife  of  ^thelwine's 
brother,  ^thelwold,  who  had  died  in  962. 

3  ^Ifheah  signs  a  charter  of  Eadwig  in  955  (Cod.  Dip.  436),  Ord- 
gar as  late  as  957  (Cod.  Dip.  479). 


204       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.vii.  been  due  not  only  to  the  influence  of  their  kinsmen, 
The     but  to  their  own  desertion  of  Ead wig's  cause.     Only 
^dome^^^'the  "eastern  kingdom"  was  left  without  an  ealdor- 
955^88.  "^^^'  perhaps  from  Dunstan's  reluctance  to  set  a 
—     great  noble  over  Kent,  where  the  primate  was  su- 
preme. 
The         With  these  earlier  measures  of  the  reien  Dunstan, 

Primate  i       i    t     i  i  r 

and  King,  howcvcr,  can  have  had  little  to  do ;  for  soon  after 
the  first  settlement  of  the  realm  he  became  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,'  and  at  once  made  his  way 
to  Rome,  where  he  received  his  pallium  at  the 
hands  of  Pope  John  the  Xwelfth.  It  was  only  on 
his  return,  in  960,  that  he  seems  to  have  taken  the 
main  direction  of  affairs.  His  policy  was  that  of  a 
cool,  cautious  churchman,  intent  not  so  much  on 
outer  aggrandizement  as  on  the  practical  business 
of  internal  government.  While  withdrawing,  save 
in  the  harmless  arrogance  of  royal  titles,  from  any 
effort  to  enforce  the  supremacy  of  Wessex  over 
Welshmen  or  Cumbrians,  and  practically  abandon- 
ing the  bulk  of  England  itself  to  the  great  nobles, 
the  young  king  and  the  primate  devoted  themselves 
to  the  enforcement  of  order  and  justice  in  their  own 
Wessex.  In  itself  this  union  of  archbishop  and 
king  in  the  government  of  the  realm  was  of  no 
small  moment.  The  Church  and  the  monarchy 
were  the  two  national  powers  which  had  been 
raised  to  a  height  above  all  others  through  the  strife 
with  heathendom  and   the    Danes;    and  from  the 

^  For  the  difficulties  as  to  Odo's  immediate  successor,  see  Stubbs, 
Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.xciii.  The  date  of  the  archbishopric  is 
959;  the  entries  in  some  chronicles,  under  961,  being  later  interpo- 
lations.— Stubbs,  Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  xcvi. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       305 

very  outset  of  the  strife  in  Ecgberht's  days  they  had  chap.vh. 
been  drawn  together  as  natural  allies.  But  it  was  The 
only  at  the  close  of  the  struggle  that  this  natural  domen." 
alliance  hardened  into  something  like  complete  955I988. 
unity.  Dunstan  would  seem  to  have  contemplated 
the  installation  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  as 
a  constitutional  and  fixed  adviser  of  the  king,  in  the 
place  of  his  own  West-Saxon  prelates :  and  though 
this  plan  was  never  quite  realized,  it  left  no  slight 
mark  on  our  later  history.  The  displacement  of  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester  by  the  primate  of  southern 
Britain  as  the  national  adviser  of  the  crown  was,  at 
any  rate,  a  step  forward  in  the  process  of  develop- 
ment which,  even  while  the  monarchy  was  weaken- 
ing day  by  day,  was  showing  the  growth  of  a  na- 
tional sentiment.  During  this  reign  at  least  the 
plan  was  carried  out.  The  rule  of  the  realm  was  in 
the  hands  at  once  of  Dunstan  and  Eadgar;  and 
king  and  primate  were  almost  blended  together  in 
the  thoughts  of  Englishmen.  So  far,  indeed,  as 
their  work  could  be  distinguished,  there  was  a  curi- 
ous inversion  of  parts.  The  king  was  seen  devot- 
ing himself  to  the  task  of  building  up  again  the 
Church,  of  diffusing  monasticism,  of  fashioning  his 
realm  in  accordance  with  a  religious  ideal.'  On  the 
other  hand  the  primate  was  busy  with  the  task  of 
civil  administration  ;  and  if  he  dealt  with  the  Church 

^  Hence  his  praises  from  the  monastic  chroniclers  of  his  own  and 
later  days.  Thus  Eng.  Chron.  (Peterborough)  a.  959.  "He  up- 
reared  God's  glory  wide,  and  loved  God's  law.  He  was  wide 
throughout  nations  greatly  honored,  because  he  honored  God's 
name  earnestly,  and  God's  law  pondered  oft  and  frequently,  and 
God's  glory  reared  wide  and  far,  and  wisely  counselled  most  oft  and 
ever  for  God  and  for  the  world." 

20 


955-988. 


206  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VII.  at  all,  dealt  with  it  mainly  as  a  political  power  to  be 
The     utilized  for  the  support  of  the  monarchy.     But,  in 

^dorme^^^fact,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  distinguish  between 
the  work  of  the  one  and  the  work  of  the  other.  If 
we  read  the  accounts  of  the  hagiologists,  all  is  done 
by  Dunstan  and  we  see  nothing  of  Eadgar.  If  w^e 
trust  to  the  scanty  records  of  the  Chronicle,  Dun- 
stan is  unheard  of,  and  the  glory  of  the  reign  is 
wholly  due  to  Eadgar.  The  contemporary  charters 
supply  the  explanation  of  the  seeming  inconsistency ; 
they  show,  so  far  as  their  evidence  goes,  that  the 
work  was  one,  but  that  its  oneness  was  the  result 
of  a  common  and  unbroken  action  of  the  primate 
and  the  king. 
Eadgar.  In  the  earlier  years  of  Eadgar,  however,  the  action 
of  Dunstan  must  have  been  far  the  weightier  of  the 
two,  for  the  king  was  but  a  boy  of  sixteen  at  his  ac- 
cession. It  was  not,  indeed,  till  966,  when  he  had 
fully  reached  manhood,  that  we  can  trace  the  indi- 
vidual action  of  Eadgar  himself  in  English  affairs. 
The  young  king  was  of  short  stature  and  slender 
frame,  but  active  and  bold  in  temper; '  and  the  le- 
gendary poetry  which  gathered  round  his  name  sug- 
gests that  as  he  grew  to  manhood  there  was  at  least 
an  interval  in  his  reign  which  saw  an  outbreak  of 
lawless  passion,  if  not  of  tyranny.  He  must  have 
been  married  at  an  early  age  to  ^thelflaed  the 
White,  who  became  the  mother  of  a  boy,  his  suc- 
cessor, Eadward  the  Martyr;  for,  already,  in  965, 
her  death  had  left  him  free  to  wed  another  wife, 
^Ifthryth,  the   mother   of   a   second   son,  ^thel- 

*  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  251,  "staturae  et  corpulentiae 
perexilis." 


THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  307 

red.'     It  is  before  the  latter  marriage,  in  the  years  chap.vh. 
when  he  was  only  passing  into  manhood,  that  we     The 
must  place  the  stories  which  have  been  saved  f rom  ^JJ^men^' 
the  poetry  that  gathered  about  his  reign,  such  as  that  g^^gg 
of  the  violation  of  a  nun  at  Wilton,"  stories  which  are     — 
mainly  of  interest  as  showing  that  popular  tradition 
handed  down  a  very  different  impression  of  Eadgar  • 
from   that  given   by   the  monastic  hagiographers, 
though  they  may  possibly  preserve  a  true  record  of 
the  excesses  of  his  youth.     But  if  this  temper  ever 
existed,  it  must  have  passed  away  with  riper  years. 
Dim  as  is  our  knowledge  of  the  king,  his  progresses, 
his  energy  in  the  work  of  religious  restoration,  the    . 
civil  organization   which  went  on    throughout  his 
reign,  the  traces  that  remain  of  his  rigorous  justice, 
the  union  with   Dunstan,  above  all  the   unbroken 
peace  and  order  of  the  land,  an  order  only  possible 
at  so  early  a  time  when  the  rulers  hand  was  felt 
everywhere  throughout  the  realm,  are  more  than 
enough  to  witness  his  devotion  to  the  task  of  rule. 

As  we  have  said,  it  is  impossible,  in  the  main  acts  The  pubiu 
of  his  reign,  to  distinguish  between  the  work  of  the 

*  The  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  965,  makes  ^Ifthryth  "daughter  of 
Ordgar  the  Ealdorman."  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  255, 
makes  ^Ethelflaed  the  daughter  of  an  ealdorman,  Ordmaer. 

^  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  252,  etc.,  "primis  temporibus 
fuisse  crudelem  in  cives,  libidinosum  in  virgines."  Will.  Malm., 
Gest.  Pontif.  (ed.  Hamilton),  p.  190,  represents  Cnut  as  thinking  Ead- 
gar "vitiis  deditur  maximeque  libidinis  servus  in  subjectos  propior 
tyranno  fuisset."  But  the  "vitiis"  seem  to  be  borrowed  from  the 
Chronicle  a.  958,  "  one  misdeed  he  did  that  he  foreign  vices  loved," 
which  is  nothing  but  the  common  charge  against  his  policy  of  union, 
like  "  heathen  customs  within  the  land  he  brought  too  oft,  and  out- 
landish men  hither  drew,  and  harmful  folk  allured  to  this  land ;" 
while  the  "  cruelty  "  may  be  a  popular  rendering  of  the  severity  of 
his  laws  and  of  such  acts  as  the  harrying  of  Thanet. 


3o8  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

cHAP.vii.  king  and  the  work  of  the  primate.  But  it  was  to 
The  Eadgar,  and  not  to  Dunstan,  that  after-tradition  at- 
dormen^  tributed  the  general  character  of  his  reign.  A  chron- 
95^^88.  icier,  writing  at  the  close  of  the  Norman  rule,  tells 
—  us  that  among  Englishmen  of  his  time  there  was  a 
strong  belief  that,  in  any  fair  judgment,  no  English 
king  of  that  or  any  other  age  could  be  compared 
with  Eadgar.'  The  great  characteristic  of  his  rule 
was  the  characteristic  of  peace.  At  his  birth,  Dun- 
stan was  said  to  have  heard  the  voice  of  an  angel 
proclaiming  peace  for  England  as  long  as  the  child 
should  reign  and  Dunstan  should  live.'  The  proph- 
ecy, if  it  was  ever  uttered,  was  certainly  fulfilled. 
"  He  dwelt  in  peace,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  the  while 
that  he  lived.  God  so  granted  it  him."'  In  the 
centuries  before  the  Danish  warfare,  there  had  been 
constant  strife  either  between  the  English  states, 
into  which  Britain  was  divided,  or  between  the  tribes 
that  made  up  each  separate  state.  For  more  than 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  country  had  been  a 
scene  of  fierce  and  brutal  warfare  between  English- 
man and  Dane.  The  history  of  the  new  England 
had,  in  fact,  been  a  series  of  troubles  within,  and 
then  of  troubles  without.  But  with  the  accession  of 
Eadgar  foreign  war  and  internal  dissension  seemed 
alike  to  cease.  Within,  he  "  bettered  the  public 
peace  more  than  most  of  the  kings  who  were  be- 

^  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  256.  "  Merito  ergo  non  infir- 
ma  inter  Anglos  fama  est  nullum,  nee  ejus,  nee  superioris  aetatis  re- 
gem  in  Anglia  recto  et  aequilibri  judicio  Edgaro  comparandum." 

^  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  235.  "  Vulgatum  est,  quod,  eo 
nascente,  angelicam  vocem  Dunstanus  exceperit, '  Pax  Angliae  quam- 
diu  puer  iste  regnaverit,  et  Dunstanus  noster  vixerit.' " 

'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  958. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^q^ 

fore  him  in  man's  memory." '     His  rule  over  the  de-  chap^h. 
pendent  realms  and  ealdormanries  was,  no  doubt,     The 
the  more   tranquil  for  the  wise   limitation   of  his  domen. " 
claims  to  government  or  over-lordship.     "  God  him  95^33^ 
so  helped  that  kings  and  earls  gladly  to  him  bowed     — 
and  were  submissive  to  that  he  willed,  and  without 
war  he  ruled  all  that  himself  would."     Such  a  peace 
within  and  without  was  partly,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
result  of  other  men's  labors,  but  in  no  small  part  it 
must  have  been  the  result  of  the  wisdom  and  effort 
of  Eadgar  and  Dunstan  themselves.    The  chronicles 
tell  us  in  significant  words  that  the  king  "earned 
diligently  "  the  peace  in  which  he  dwelt. 

In  his  work  of  peace  Eadgar  was,  no  doubt,  fa-     <^^'.^^^ 

.  ^  quiet, 

vored  by  the  state  of  things  in  the  peoples  about 
him.  Danger  from  without  lay  mostly  in  the  hos- 
tility of  Scandinavia  and  of  Normandy,  or  in  the  at- 
tacks of  the  Ostmen  from  Ireland.  But  master  as 
Harald  Blaatand  was  both  of  Denmark  and  Norway, 
and  recently  as  his  fleets  had  appeared  in  the  British 
Channel,  he  was  drawn  from  all  thought  of  aggres- 
sion in  England  during  the  whole  reign  of  Eadgar, 
by  the  stress  of  a  warfare  nearer  home  against  Ger- 
many and  Otto  the  Great.''  Normandy  again  was 
entering  upon  a  revolution  conducive  to  English 
interests.  Under  Richard  the  Fearless  her  trans- 
formation from  a  pirate  settlement  of  Northmen 
into  a  Christian  member  of  the  French  kingdom 
and  the  European  commonwealth  suddenly  took  a 
vigor  it  had  never  known  before ;  and  this  transfor- 
mation told  in  favor  of  peaceful  relations  with  the 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  958. 

'  Dahlmann,  Geschichte  v.  Dannemark,  i.  79-83. 


955-988. 


3IO       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.vii.  states  about  her.  The  Ostmen,  on  the  other  hand, 
The     had  turned,  we  know  not  why,  from  foes  to  friends, 

^dormen^^'and  a  good  understanding  had  been  established  be- 
tween them  and  the  EngHsh  king,  which  lasted  till 
the  conquest  of  the  Norman.  Though  Olaf,  Siht- 
ric's  son,  the  old  enemy  of  ^thelstan  and  Eadmund, 
reigned  throughout  Eadgar's  days  in  Dublin,  we  pos- 
sess coins  of  Eadgar's  which  were  minted  there,  and 
it  is  possible  that  the  Ostmen  may  have  supplied 
him  with  the  fleet  that  accompanied  his  progress 
through  the  Irish  Channel.'  Nearer  home  the  Eng- 
lish rule  over  Wales  seems  to  have  been  quietly  re- 
laxed. Under  Eadred  four  Welsh  princes  had  sat 
in  the  English  Witenagemot ; '  but  with  the  reign 
of  Eadgar  their  attendance  ceases,  and  though  a  war 
in  968'  may  have  forced  them  to  renew  the  payment 
of  tribute,  their  dependence  on  the  crown  can  have 
been  little  more  than  nominal.*     In  the  north  the 

*  Robertson,  Hist.  Essays,  p.  198.  In  his  later  years  of  rule  in 
Northumbria,  Olaf,  Sihtric's  son,  seems  to  have  been  united  to  the 
English  kings  by  their  common  opposition  to  the  Danish  Eric. 

*  Cod.  Dip.  433.  '  Annales  Cambriae,  a.  968. 

*  The  legends  of  the  twelfth  century  give  a  very  different  color  to 
these  matters.  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  251,  says  :  "  Jud- 
valo  regi  Walensium  edictum  imposuerit  ut  sibi  quotannis  tributum 
trecentorum  luporum  pensitaret,  quod  cum  tribus  annis  fecisset, 
quarto  destitit,  nullum  se  ulterius  posse  invenire  professus."  He 
has  before  told  the  story  of  the  rowing  on  the  Dee,  which  retains, 
however,  more  of  its  romantic  form  in  the  pages  of  his  contempo- 
rary, Florence  of  Worcester,  whose  patriotic  invention  is  now  be- 
ginning to  come  into  play.  "Cum  ingenti  classe,  septentrionali 
Britannia  circumnavigata,  ad  Legionum  civitatem  appulit,  cui  subre- 
guli  ejus  octo,  Kynath  scilicet  rex  Scottorum,  Malcolm  rex  Cumbro- 
rum,  Maccus  plurimarum  rex  insularum,  et  alii  quinque,  Dufnal. 
Siferth,  Huwal,  Jacob,  Juchil,  ut  mundarat,  occurrerunt,  et  quod  sibi 
fideles  et  terra  et  mari  cooperatores  esse  vellent  juraverunt.  Cum 
quibus  die  quadam  scapham  ascendit,  illisque  ad  remos  locatis,  ipse 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       311 

settlement  effected  by  Eadmund  still  held  good,  in  chap^vh. 
spite  of  a  raid  into  which  the  Scots  seem  to  have     The 
been  tempted  by  a  last  rising  of  the  Danelaw.'    The  domen. " 
bribe  of  the  Cumbrian  realm  sufficed  to  secure  the  95^88. 
Scot  king  as  a  fellow-worker  with  Eadgar,  as  effect- 
ively  as  it  had  secured  him  as  a  fellow-worker  with 
Eadmund,  while  a  fresh  bond  was  added  by  the  ces- 
sion during  this  reign  of  the  fortress  of  Edinburgh 
with  the  district  around  it,  along  with  the  southern 
shore  of  the  Forth  to  the  Scottish  king.' 

The  Danelaw,  the  great  Northumbrian  earldom  ^^fl'H^^ 
which  had  been  formed  in  Eadred's  day  under  Danelaw. 
Oswulf,  and  which  passed,  in  966,  into  the  hands  of 
Earl  Oslac,'  as  well  as  the  territory  of  the  Five  Bor- 
oughs, had  almost  as  little  connection  with  Eadgar 
as  Cumbria  or  Scotland.  Oslac,  the  Great  Earl  as 
he  was  called,*  seems  to  have  been  nearly  independ- 
ent. We  find  him  seldom  sitting  in  the  Witenage- 
mot,'  while  the  name  of  his  predecessor,  Oswulf, 
never  appears  in  these  great  assemblies.  The  ad- 
ministrative independence  of  the  earldom,  indeed, 
was  formally  recognized  by  Eadgar  himself  in  the 

clavum  gubernaculi  arripiens,  earn  per  cursum  fluminis  Deae  perite 
gubernavit,  omnique  turba  ducum  et  procerum  simili  navigio  comi- 
tante,  a  palatio  ad  monasterium  S.  Johannis  Baptistae  navigavit,  ubi 
facta  oratione  eadem  pompa  ad  palatium  remeavit :  quod  dum  in- 
traret  optimatibus  fertur  dixisse  tunc  demum  quemque  suor,um  suc- 
cessorum  se  gloriari  posse  regem  Anglorum  fore,  cum  tot  regibus 
sibi  obsequentibus  potiretur  pompa  talium  honorum." — Flor.  Wore, 
(ed.  Thorpe),  i.  142.  Historically  these  legends  stand  on  the  same 
footing  as  the  other  romances  embedded  in  Malmesbury. 

^  Pictish  Chronicle,  ad  an.  in  Skene,  Celtic  Scot. 

»  Skene,  Celtic  Scot.  i.  365. 

"  Eng.  Chron.  (Wore),  a.  966. 

*  Eng.  Chron.  a.  975. 

*  He  signs  some  half-dozen  of  Eadgar's  charters. 


312       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VII.  ordinance  drawn  up  at  Wilbarstone.     The  special 

The     aim  of  this  ordinance  was  to  create  a  uniform  system 

^dome^n^^'of  law;  "with  the  English,"  says  the  king,  "let  that 

955^88.  stand  which  I  and  my  Witan  have  added  to  the 
—  dooms  of  my  forefathers  for  the  behoof  of  all  my 
people,  only  let  the  ordinance  be  common  to  all;" 
but  he  did  not  venture  to  carry  the  uniformity  into 
Northumbria.  "  Let  secular  rights,"  he  says,  "  stand 
among  the  Danes  with  as  good  laws  as  they  best 
may  choose."*  The  civil  constitution  of  the  hun- 
dred, indeed,  was  the  one  reform  that  he  invited 
them  to  share  with  the  rest  of  England;  "and  this 
I  desire,  that  this  one  doom  be  common  to  us  all  for 
security  and  peace  among  the  people."  They  were 
just  as  independent  in  religious  matters;  while  ce- 
libacy in  priesthood  became  the  law  of  the  south, 
the  Northumbrian  law  ran,  "  If  a  priest  forsake  a 
woman  and  take  another,  let  him  be  excommunicat- 
ed." '  But  severed,  as  it  seemed  politically,  from  the 
general  body  of  the  English  realm,  the  Danelaw  was 
being  drawn  more  and  more  into  unity  with  the 
national  life,  and  under  Earl  Oslac  the  fusion  of  the 
Danes  with  the  mass  of  Englishmen,  among  whom 
they  had  settled,  went  quietly  on. 

i?<7^Y       From  the  first  moment  of  his  settlement  in  the 

Dams.  Danelaw,  indeed,  the  Dane  had  been  passing  into 
an  Englishman.  The  settlers  were  few ;  they  were 
scattered  among  a  large  population ;   in  tongue,  in 

'  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  273. 

^  Stubbs,  however,  points  out  that  "  the  few  customs  which  the 
Danes  and  the  Danelaga  specially  retained  are  enumerated  by  Cnut, 
and  seem  to  be  only  nominally  at  variance  with  those  of  their  neigh- 
bors ;  while  of  the  exercise  of  separate  legislation  there  is  no  evi- 
dence."— Const.  Hist.  i.  226. 


THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  313 

manner,  in  institutions,  there  was  little  to  distinguish  chap.vh. 
them  from  the  men  among  whom  they  dwelt'    More-     The 
over,  their  national  temper  helped  on  the  process  of  dormen* " 
assimilation.     Even  in  France,  where  difference  of  gg^gg 
language  and  difference  of  custom  seemed  to  inter-     — 
pose  an  impassable  barrier  between  the  Northman 
settled  in  Normandy  and  his  neighbors,  he  was  fast 
becoming  a  Frenchman.    In  England,  where  no  such 
barriers  existed,  the   assimilation  was  yet  quicker. 
The  two  peoples  soon  became  confounded.     In  a 
few  years  a  Northman  in  blood  was  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  another  Northman  in  blood  was 
Archbishop  of  York."     That  this  fusion  was  fur- 
thered by  the  direct  efforts  of  Eadgar  is  certain, 
even  from  the  charges  which  are  brought  against 

*  "  Nothing  is  known  of  their  native  institutions  at  the  time  of 
their  first  inroads ;  and  the  differences  between  the  customs  of  the 
Danelaga  and  those  of  the  rest  of  England  which  follow  the  Norse 
occupation  are  small  in  themselves,  and  might  almost,  with  equal 
certainty,  be  ascribed  to  the  distinction  between  Angle  and  Saxon." 
— Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  227.  "The  civilization  which  the  Danes 
possessed  was  probably  about  equal  to  that  which  the  Angles  had 
three  centuries  before ;  they  were  still  heathens,  and  of  their  legal 
customs  we  know  no  more  than  that  they  used  the  universal  cus- 
toms of  compurgation,  wergild,  and  other  pecuniary  compositions 
for  the  breach  of  the  peace.  Their  heathenism  they  renounced 
with  hardly  a  struggle,  and  the  rest  of  their  jurisprudence  needed 
only  to  be  translated  into  English  ;  the  *  lah-slit '  of  the  Danes  is  the 
*  wite '  of  the  Anglo-Saxon ;  and  in  many  cases  new  names  rather 
than  new  customs  date  from  the  Danish  occupation ;  the  eorl,  the 
hold,  the  grith,  the  tithing,  the  wapentake  perhaps,  supersede  the 
old  names,  but  with  no  perceptible  difference  of  meaning." — Ibid, 
p.  228. 

^  The  Archbishops  Odo  and  Oswald. — Raine,  Lives  of  Archbps.  of 
York,  i.  118.  See  also  the  large  number  of  Danish  or  Norse  names 
— Frena,  Frithegist,  Thurcytel,  etc. — which  occur  in  the  list  of  wit- 
nesses to  a  charter  of  Eadgar  to  the  monastery  of  Ely.  Hist.  Elien. 
Gale,  Rerum  Ang.  Script,  iii.  517. — (A,  S.  G.) 


314  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

cHAP.vii.  him  on  this  score.  His  laws  show  that  he  preserved 
The  to  the  conquered  Danelaw  its  local  institutions  and 
dormen. '  local  usagcs  ;  but  he  did  more  than  this.  He  freely 
955^88  recognized  the  northern  settlers  as  Englishmen. 
—  He  employed  Danes  in  the  royal  service,  and  pro- 
moted them  to  high  posts  in  Church  and  State.* 
Such  a  policy  had  to  be  wrought  out  in  the  face  of 
no  slight  opposition.  Even  in  the  eulogy  which  the 
chronicler  passes  upon  Eadgar,'  the  English  discon- 
tent breaks  out  in  censure  of  this  policy  of  reconcil- 
iation. "  One  misdeed  he  did  all  too  much  that  he 
foreign  vices  loved,  and  heathen  customs  within  this 
land  brought  too  oft,  and  outlandish  men  hither 
drew,  and  harmful  people  allured  to  this  land." 
Echoes  of  the  same  discontent  meet  us  in  the  later 
gossip  of  Malmesbury,'  how  "as  his  fame  flew 
through  every  mouth,  foreigners,  Saxons,*  men  of 
Flanders,  even  Danes  themselves,  sailed  hither  in 
crowds,  and  were  welcomed  by  Eadgar,  whose  ar- 
rival brought  with  it  great  harm  to  the  men  of  the 
land,  men  who  were  up  to  this  time  without  offence 
in  such  matters,  and  inclined  in  the  simplicity  of 
their  own  nature  rather  to  hold  to  their  own  than 
to  admire  foreign  matters,  but  who  now  learned  from 
the  Saxons  an  uncivilized  fierceness  of  temper,  from 
the  Flamands  a  loose  bodily  self-indulgence,  and 
from  the  Danes  drunkenness." 

*  Thus  Thored,  Gunnar's  son,  was  in  961  "  praepositus  domus  nos- 
trae,"  and  later  sent  at  the  head  of  a  royal  force  into  Westmoringa- 
land. — Eng.  Chron.  (Winch.),  a.  966. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Peterborough),  a.  959. 
'  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  236. 

*  This  may  have  come  from  his  connection  with  the  imperial 
house.  Otto  the  Great  "  mira  illi  munera  devexit  et  cum  eo  pac- 
tum firmissimae  pacis  firmavit,"  says  Flor.  Wore.  (ed.  Thorpe),  i.  139. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 


315 


That  the  new  Danish  influence  contributed  nobler  chap.vh. 
elements  than  these  to  the  national  life  was  seen  a     The 
little  later  in  the  development  which  English  com-  domen** 
merce  owed  to  the  new  settlers.     As  yet,  however,  gg^I^gg^ 
the  main  industry  of  the  country  was  agricultural.     —  . 
The  system  of  culture,  indeed,  had  changed  little,  if  cuiiurai 
at  all,  since  the  days  of  the  English  settlement  in    ^'^"^^' 
Britain.'     The  township  still  shared  the  allotments 
in  its  "  common  field,"  while  its   herds   and  flocks 
browsed  on  the  common  pasture.     But  the  changes 
in  the  social  economy  which  had  been  going  on 
during  the  long  period  of  the   Danish  wars  were 
producing  a  corresponding  effect  on  industrial  life. 
Whether  from  the  circumstances  of  their  original 
formation,  or  from  the  prevalence  of  commendation 
to  a  lord  for  purposes  of  protection,  the  bulk  of  Eng- 
lish villages  were  now  "  in  demesne,"  that  is  to  say, 
in  the  "dominion"  or  lordship  of  some   thegn,  or 
bishop,  or  in  that  of  the  crown   itself.     The  free 
ceorl  had  all  but  vanished;  he  had,  for  the  most 
part,  died  down  into  a  dependent  on  the  thegn ; 
while  the  possessions  of  the  nobles  were  widening 
into  vast  estates.     The  private  estate  of  the  lord  lay 
in  the  midst  of  the  common  lands ;  and  the  bulk  of 
the  villagers  held  the  parcels  of  private  land  that 
they,  too,  were  acquiring  by  the  tenure  of  service 
on  this  estate,  which  was  cultivated  on  the  lord's  be- 
half.    As  coin  was  scarce  and  hard  to  get,  while 

'  Kemble  (Sax.  in  Eng.  i.  112,  and  note)  thinks  that  "  England  at 
the  close  of  the  tenth  century  had  advanced  to  a  high  pitch  of  cul- 
tivation," and  that  "  in  some  districts  of  England  the  Saxons  may- 
have  had  more  land  in  cultivation  than  we  ourselves  at  the  begin- 
ning of  George  the  Third's  reign."  The  amounts  paid  for  rental 
and  dues  seem  to  show  that  land  was  valuable  and  hard  to  get. 


3i6       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VII.  labor  was  easy  to  give  in  its  stead,  the  bulk  of  such 
The     tenants,  or  "  villeins,"  as  they  were  called,  paid  a  cus- 
^domS^' tomary  rent  in  labor,'  and  resembled  the  small  Irish 
955^88.  farmer  who  ekes  out  his  living  by  work  on  other 
—     men's  land.     But  there  were  a  few  villeins  who  sim- 
ply held  their  land  by  a  fixed  money  rent,'  like  a 
modern  farmer ;  and  there  were  others,  the  "  boors," 
who  seem  to  have  had  no  land  of  their  own,  but 
worked  on  the  lord's  private  land  like  the  laborers 
of  to-day.     As  a  rule  the  villein  could  not  leave  his 
holding ;  but  if  he  could  not  leave,  so  he  could  not 
be  driven  from  it  as  long  as  his  dues  were  paid ;  and 
if  custom  fixed  the  labor -rent  without  his  will,  it 
took,  in  return,  no  thought  of  the  lord's  will  in  the 
matter.     The  colibert  or  sokeman'  might  even  go, 
if  he  would,  though  leaving,  of  course,  his  land  be- 
hind him  to  fall  into  his  lord's  hands. 
Custom-       Custom,  indeed,  rather  than  any  rise  or  fall  of  the 

ary  dues.  ,  -' 

market,  ruled  the  price  of  labor  as  well  as  the  rental 
of  land ;  and  in  every  demesne  usage  dictated  alike 
the  due  of  lord  and  of  serf.  The  hay-ward,  who 
watched  over  the  common  pasture  when  enclosed  for 
grass-growing,  was  paid  by  a  piece  of  cornland  at  its 
side.     The  wood-ward,  who  watched  the  forest,  could 

*  At  the  same  time  we  note,  both  in  the  laws  and  in  the  accounts 
of  rentals,  or  heriots,  a  steady  growth  of  money  payments.  The 
amount  of  coin  seems  to  have  been  steadily  increasing;  the  repeat- 
ed regulations  as  to  moneyers  indicate  a  growing  demand  for  it ; 
while  there  was  a  large  supply  of  the  precious  metals,  especially  of 
gold,  in  the  country  in  the  form  of  ornaments  and  utensils.  See 
Lingard,  Anglo-Sax.  Church,  ii.  441,  442  ;  and  for  instances  of  larger 
payments  in  coin,  ibid.  i.  443. 

^  The  "  censuarii  "  of  Domesday. 

^  "  Rectitudines  singularum  personarum." — Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws, 
i.441. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^i^ 

claim  every  tree  that  the  wind  blew  down/     The  chap.vh. 
hog-ward,  who  drove  the   swine  to  the  "  denes  "  in     The 
the  woodland,  paid  his  lord  fifteen  pigs  at  the  slaugh-  dormen. " 
ter-time,  and  was  himself  paid  by  the  increase  of  the  95^33^ 
herd.     The  bee -ward  received  his  dues  from  the     — 
store  of  honey — a  store  which  before  the  introduc- 
tion of  sugar  was  as  needful  for  household  purposes 
as  it  was  indispensable  for  the  brewery.''     The  ser- 
vices rendered  for  rent  were  of  the  most  various 
kinds.    To  ride  in  the  lord's  train,  to  go  at  the  lord's 
bidding  wherever  he  might  will,  to  keep  "head-ward" 
over  the  manor  at  nightfall,  or  horse-ward  over  its 
common  field,  to  hedge  and  ditch  about  the  demesne, 
or  to  help  in  the  chase  and  make  the  "  deer-hedge," 
were  tenures  by  which  the  villagers  held  their  lands, 
as  well  as  by  labor  on  the  lord's  land  one  day  a  week 
throughout  the  year,  and  a  month's  toil  in  harvest- 
tide.^ 

The  labor-roll  of  two  manors  will  best  enable  us  Labor- 
to  realize  what  these  services  really  were.  At  Hurst- 
bourn,  in  Alfred's  day,  each  hide  paid  forty  pence 
to  the  lord  at  autumn-tide,  and  he  received  from  the 
manor  six  church-mittan  of  ale  and  three  horse-loads 
of  white  wheat  with  two  ewes  and  lambs  at  Easter. 
His  men  had  out  of  their  own  time  to  plough  three 
acres  of  the  demesne,  and  sow  them  with  their  own 
seed,  to  mow  half  an  acre  of  the  rent-meadow,  and 
split  four  loads  of  wood  for  the  rent-hedging.  Be- 
sides this  they  were  to  do  any  work  that  might  be 

'  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  441. 

"  Ibid.  p.  437.  At  the  head  of  the  servants,  in  social  rank,  stood 
the  smith,  next  to  him  the  ploughman,  after  him  the  oxherd  and 
cowherd,  shepherd,  goatherd,  and  swineherd,  all  in  places  of  trust, 

'  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  433. 


21 8  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

cHAP.vii.  called  for  from  them  in  every  week  save  three  in  the 
The     year/     At   Dyddenham  in   the   Severn  valley,  the 

Tormfn'^' lord's  men  had  a  less  easy  life.     "  At  Dyddenham," 

»65^88.  ^uns  its  labor-roll,  "the  services  are  very  heavy.  The 
' —  geneat  must  work,  on  the  land  and  off  the  land,  as 
he  is  bidden,  and  ride  and  carry,  lead  load,  and  drive 
drove,  and  do  many  things  besides.  The  gebur 
.  must  do  his  rights  :  he  must  plough  half  an  acre  for 
week-work ;  and  himself  pay  the  seed  in  good  con- 
dition into  the  lord's  barn  for  church-shot,  at  all 
events  from  his  own  barn ;  towards  werbold,"  forty 
large  trees  or  one  load  of  rods;  or  eight  geocu 
build,'  three  ebban  close;  of  field  enclosure  fifteen 
rods,  or  let  him  ditch  fifteen ;  and  let  him  ditch  one 
rod  of  burg-enclosure ;  reap  an  acre  and  a  half,  mow 
half  an  acre ;  work  at  other  works  ever  according  to 
their  nature.  Let  him  pay  sixpence  after  Easter, 
half  a  sester  of  honey  at  Lammas,  six  sesters  of  malt 
at  Martinmas,  one  clew  of  good  net  yarn.  In  the 
same  land  it  is  customary  that  he  who  hath  seven 
swine  shall  give  three,  and  so  forth  always  the  tenth, 
and  nevertheless  pay  for  common  of  masting  if 
mast  there  be."  * 

Manor  of  In  the  samc  way  the  survey  of  a  single  manor 
'will  best  bring  before  us  the  new  rural  society. 
That  of  Cranborne  was  one  of  the  most  extensive 
in  Dorset :  it  stretched  over  ten  thousand  acres,  of 
which  nearly  six  thousand  remained  woodland, 
while   three  thousand  furnished  a  rough  common 

'  Kemble,  Sax.  in  Eng.  i.  321. 

"  Construction  of  weir  or  place  for  catching  fish. — Kemble. 
'  Let  him  build  eight  yokes  in  the  weir,  and  close  three  ebban. 
What  these  geocu  and  ebban  are  I  cannot  say. — Kemble. 
*  Cod.  Dip.  461. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       31^ 

pasturage.'     The  land  actually  under  cultivation  was  chap.vh. 
then  but  some  twelve  hundred  acres  of  ploughland     The 
with  twenty  of  meadow-land,  and  its  population  num-  dormen. " 
bered  some  forty  males.     The  manor  was  a  royal  gg^gg, 
manor :  two  fifths  of  its  whole  area  remained  "  in      — 
demesne,"  and  in  the  ordinary  cultivation  of  this 
two  ox-teams  of  eight  oxen  each  and  ten  serfs  were 
commonly  employed.    The  serfs  of  the  demesne  were 
strictly  serfs;  at  Cranborne  they  formed  about  a 
fourth  of  the  whole  population,  elsewhere  through 
Dorset  they  numbered  from  an  eighth  to  a  thirtieth. 
But  at  harvest-tide  and  on  given  days  through  week 
and  year  the  lord  called  for  additional  service  in  his 
demesne  from  the  villeins  who  held  by  this  labor- 
tenure  the  other  three  fifths  of  the  estate.     Of  these 
eight  were  villeins,  twelve  boors,  and  seven  cottars, 
who  seem  to  have   been  distinguished  from   their 
fellow-villeins  simply  by  their  smaller  holdings." 

Though  the  villein  was  not  free  in  a  political  ^^^''^(^' 
sense,  though  he  had  no  share  in  the  general  citizen- 
ship, and  his  lord  "stood  for  him"  in  hundred-moot 
or  shire-moot,  he  was  in  a  social  sense  practically 
as  free  as  the  common  peasant  of  to-day.  But  be- 
neath the  serf  or  villein  lay  the  actual  slave,'  the 
"theow,"  who  passed  in  the  sale  of  an  estate  with 
its  sheep  and  oxen  and  swine,  and  who  was  bought 
and  sold  as  freely.  "  Herein  is  declared,"  runs  the 
record  of  such  a  sale,  "  that  Ediwic,  the  widow  of 
Saewgels,  bought  Gladu  at  Colewin  for  half  a  pound, 
for  the  price  and  the  toll;  and  ^Iword  the  port- 
gerefa  took  the  toll."    The  toll  on  slave-sales  formed 

'  Eyton,  Dorset  Domesday,  p.  62.  ^  Ibid.  p.  45  et  seq, 

'  See  Making  of  England,  p.  192. 


955-988. 


320       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VII.  one  of  the  most  lucrative  of  the  market  dues.  At 
The      Lewes  the  reeve  levied  a  farthing  on  every  sale  of 

^dormS^'an  ox,  but  fourpence  on  the  sale  of  a  man.'  The 
position  of  the  slave,  indeed,  had  been  greatly  ame- 
liorated by  the  efforts  of  the  Church.  Archbishop 
Theodore  had  denied  Christian  burial  to  the  kid- 
napper, and  prohibited  the  sale,  of  children  by  their 
parents,  after  the  age  of  seven.  Ecgberht  of  York 
punished  any  sale  of  child  or  kinsfolk  with  excom- 
munication. Ine  freed  any  slave  whom  his  lord 
forced  to  work  on  Sundays.'  The  murder  of  a 
slave  by  lord  or  mistress,  though  Jio  crime  in  the 
eye  of  the  State,  became  a  sin  for  which  penance 
was  due  to  the  Church.  The  slave  was  entitled  to 
his  two  loaves  a  day,  he  was  exempted  from  toil  on 
Sundays  and  holydays:  here  and  there  he  became 
attached  to  the  soil  and  could  only  be  sold  with  it; 
sometimes  he  acquired  a  plot  of  ground,  and  was 
suffered  to  purchase  his  own  release."  ^^thelstan 
gave  the  slave-class  a  new  rank  in  the  realm  by  ex- 
tending to  it  the  same  principles  of  mutual  responsi- 
bility for  crime  which  were  the  basis  of  order  among 
the  free.  The  Church  was  far  from  contenting  her- 
self with  this  gradual  elevation  ;  Wilfrid  led  the  way 

'  Sharon  Turner,  Hist.  Angl.-Sax.  iii.  79,  80. 

"  Ine,  sec.  3 ;  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  105. 

'  "  Non  licet  homini  a  servo  tollere  pecuniam  quam  ipse  labore 
suo  acquisierit." — Councils,  iii.  202.  "Thus  Edric  bought  the  per- 
petual freedom  of  Saegyfa,  his  daughter,  and  all  her  offspring.  So, 
for  one  pound,  ^Ifwig  the  Red  purchased  his  own  liberty ;  and 
Saewi  Hagg  bought  out  his  two  sons.  Godwin  the  Pale  is  also  no- 
tified to  have  liberated  himself,  his  wife,  and  children  for  fifteen 
shillings.  Brihtmaer  bought  the  perpetual  freedom  of  himself,  his 
wife  ^Ifgyfu,  their  children  and  grandchildren,  for  two  pounds." — 
Sharon  Turner,  Hist.  Angl.-Sax.  iii.  83. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       32 1 

in  the  work  of  emancipation  by  freeing  two  hundred  chap,  vh? 
and  fifty  serfs  whom  he  found  attached  to  his  estate     The^ 
at  Selsey.     Manumission  became  frequent  in  wills,  domen. " 
as  the  clergy  taught  that  such  a  gift  was  a  boon  to  95^8. 
the  soul  of  the  dead.     At  the  Synod  of  Chelsea  the     — 
bishops  bound  themselves  to  free  at  their  decease 
all  serfs  on  their  estates  who  had  been  reduced  to 
serfdom  by  want  or  crime.'     Usually  the  slave  was 
set  free  before  the  altar  or  in  the  church-porch,  and 
the  Gospel -book  bore  written  on  its  margins  the 
record  of  his  emancipation.      Sometimes  his  lord 
placed  him  at  the  spot  where  four  roads  met,  and 
bade  him  go  whither  he  would.     In  the  more  sol- 
emn form  of  the  law  his  master  took  him  by  the 
hand  in  full  shire-meeting,  showed  him  open  road 
and  door,  and  gave  him  the  lance  and  sword  of  the 
freeman. 

It  was  this  agricultural  society  that  practically  inland 
made  up  the  nation.  In  the  tenth  century  Eng- 
land could  hardly  claim  to  be  a  trading  country  at 
all.  Its  one  export  was  that  of  slaves,  its  imports 
mainly  of  such  goods  as  an  agricultural  people  could 
not  produce  for  itself.  Its  inland  towns  were  mere 
villages  that  furnished  markets  for  the  sale  of  prod- 
uce from  the  country  round ;  wares  from  more  dis- 
tant points  were  few.  The  most  important,  perhaps, 
was  salt;  for  as  there  was  little  winter- fodder  for 
cattle,  a  large  part  of  them  were  slain  at  the  end  of 
autumn,  and  salted  meat  formed  the  bulk  of  the 
food  till  the  coming  of  spring.     The  salt-works  of 

^  Acts  of  Council  of  Celchyth,  a.  816,  cap.  x. ;  Stubbs  and  Had- 
dan,  Councils,  iii.  583.  On  "  Celchyth,"  see  same  vol.  pp.  444,  445. — 
(A.  S.  G.) 

21 


322       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHARvii.  Worcestershire,  which  had  been  worked  under  the 
The  Romans,  were  still  busy,'  while  the  boundless  supply 
^dorme^^^'of  fuel  from  the  Andredsweald  encouraged  the  mak- 
95^88.  i^g  ^^  sea-salt  along  the  coast  of  Kent.'  Salt-workers, 
—  indeed,  were  found  along  the  whole  southern  shore. 
Metal  wares  also  may  here  and  there  have  made 
their  way  to  market:  for  we  find  mention  of  an 
iron-mine  as  still  being  worked  in  Kent  in  the 
seventh  century,'  and  in  the  ninth  there  were  lead- 
works  in  the  valley  of  the  Severn.*  The  rest  of  the 
trade  of  the  country  was  in  the  hands  of  the  chap- 
man, or  salesman,  who  journeyed  from  hall  to  hall. 
His  wares  must  often  have  been  of  the  costliest 
kind.  The  growth  of  the  noble  class  in  power  had 
been  accompanied  by  a  corresponding  growth  in 
wealth;  and  the  luxury  of  their  dress  and  personal 
ornaments  is  witnessed  by  every  document  of  the 
time.  The  thegn  himself  boasted  of  his  gems,  of 
his  golden  bracelets  and  rings ;  his  garments  were 
gay  with  embroidery  and  lined  with  costly  furs ;  the 
rough  walls  of  his  house  were  often  hung  with  silken 
hangings,  wrought  with  figures  or  pictures.  We 
hear  of  tables  made  of  silver  and  gold,  of  silver  mir- 
rors and  candlesticks ;  while  cups  and  basins  of  the 
same  precious  metals  were  stored  in  the  hoards  of 
the  wealthier  nobles."    To  supply  these  costly  goods, 

'  Cod.  Dip.  67,  68. 

"  Ecgberht  makes  a  grant  of  salt-works  here,  with  a  hundred  and 
twenty  loads  of  wood  from  the  weald  to  feed  the  fires.  Another 
grant  allows  wagons  to  go  for  six  weeks  into  the  king's  forest. — 
Cod.  Dip.  234,  288. 

^  Cod.  Dip.  30.  *  Ibid.  237. 

'  See  the  numerous  instances  given  by  Sharon  Turner,  Hist.  Angl.- 
Sax.  iii.  5. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^23 

as  well  as  the  meaner  wares  of  lesser  folk,  must  have  chap.vu. 
been  the  work  of  the  chapman,  and  gave  an  impor-     The 
tance  to  this  class  which  passed  away  as  the  cus-  domeiL" 
tomer  learned  to  seek   the   trader   instead  of  the  95^33. 
trader  making  his  way  to  the  customer,'  and  the     — 
chapman  died  down  into  the  pedler. 

It  was  seldom  that  the  travelling  merchant  ven-  .  ^^^  . 
tured  to  travel  alone.  In  a  law  of  Alfred  chapmen 
are  bidden  to  "  bring  the  men  whom  they  take  with 
them  to  folk-moot,  and  let  it  be  stated  how  many  of 
them  there  are,  and  let  them  take  such  men  with 
them  as  they  may  be  able  afterwards  to  present  for 
justice  at  the  folk-moot;  and  when  they  have  need 
of  more  men  with  them  on  their  journey,  let  them 
declare  it,  as  often  as  their  need  may  be,  to  the  king's 
reeve  in  presence  of  the  gemot.'"  To  move  over 
the  country,  indeed,  with  costly  wares  was  hardly  safe 
at  a  time  when  ordinary  travellers  went  in  companies 
for  security,  and  even  the  clergy  on  the  way  to  syn- 
ods were  forced  to  travel  together."  The  highways, 
in  fact,  were  infested  with  robbers,  and  the  outlaw 
was,  through  the  legal  usages  of  the  day,  a  frequent 
trouble  on  the  road.  The  roads,  too,  were  often 
rough  and  hardly  traversable ;  the  repair  of  ways  and 
bridges,  though  an  obligation  binding  on  every  land- 
owner, was  so  often  neglected  that  the  Church  had 
to  aid  in  the  work  by  laying  on  her  offenders  the 
penance  of  "  building  bridges  over  deep  waters  and 
foul  ways."* 

*  The  chapman  is  first  mentioned  in  the  laws  of  Hlothere  (Thorpe, 
Anc.  Laws,  i.  33),  and  in  those  of  Ine  (Ibid.  119).  "■  If  a  chapman 
traffic  up  among  the  people,  let  him  do  it  before  witnesses." 

"  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  83. 

'  Lingard,  Angl.-Sax.  Church,  i.  107.  *  Ibid.  336. 


324  THE   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VII.  The  safety  of  travelling  was,  perhaps,  hardly  in- 
The     creased  by  the  presence  of  other  wanderers  from  hall 

^dormS^'to  hall,  who  played  almost  as  great  a  part  in  the  do- 

955^88.  niestic  life  of  the  wealthier  class  as  the  chapman 

—  *  himself.    The  visits  of  the  gleeman  and  the  juggler, 

gieemati.  or  "  tumblcr,"  were  welcome  breaks  in  the  monotony 
of  the  thegn's  life.  It  is  hard  not  to  look  kindly  at 
the  gleeman,  for  he  no  doubt  did  much  to  preserve 
the  older  poetry  which  even  now  was  ebbing  away. 
When  Christianity  brought  with  it  not  only  a  new 
vehicle  of  writing  in  the  Roman  characters,  but  the 
habit  of  writing  itself,  it  dealt  a  fatal  blow  at  the  mass 
of  early  poetry  which  had  been  handed  down  by  oral 
tradition.  Among  the  Franks,  Charles  the  Great 
vainly  sought  to  save  the  old  national  songs  from 
perishing  by  ordering  them  to  be  written  down.  In 
England,  ^^Ifred  did  what  he  could  to  save  them  by 
teaching  them  in  his  court.  We  see  them,  indeed, 
lingering  in  men's  memories  till  the  time  of  Dunstan. 
But  the  heathen  character  of  the  bulk  of  them  must 
have  hindered  their  preservation  by  transfer  to  writ- 
ing, and  custom  hindered  it  yet  more,  for  men  could 
not  believe  that  songs  and  annals  handed  down  for 
ages  by  memory  could  be  lost  for  want  of  memory. 
And,  no  doubt,  the  memory  of  the  gleeman  handed 
on  this  precious  store  of  early  verse  long  after  the 
statelier  poems  of  Cadmon  or  Cynewulf  had  been  set 
down  in  writing.  But  useful  as  their  work  may  have 
been,  and  popular  as  were  both  gleeman  and  tum- 
bler,' the  character  of  the  class  seems  to  have  been 
low,  and  that  of  their  stories  is  marked  by  the  re- 

^  Eadgar  himself  speaks  of  them  as  "dancing  and  singing  even  to 
the  middle  of  the  night." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^35 

peated  prohibition  addressed  to  the  clergy  to  listen  chap,  vn. 
to  harpers  or  music,  or  permit  any  jesting  or  playing     The 

,  T     .  Great  Eal- 

in  their  presence.  dormen. 

With  learning,  indeed,  the  stress  of  war  had  dealt  gg^gg 
roughly  since  the  time  of  -Alfred.  The  educational  j.^~^  r 
effort  which  he  had  set  on  foot  had  all  but  ceased,  learning, 
for  the  clergy  had  sunk  back  into  worldliness  and 
ignorance ;  not  a  book  or  translation,  save  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  English  chronicle,  had  been  added 
to  those  which  Alfred  had  left,  and  the  sudden  in- 
terruption even  of  the  chronicle  after  Eadward's 
reign  shows  the  fatal  effect  which  the  long  war  was 
exerting  on  literature.  Dunstan  resumed  Alfred's 
task,  not,  indeed,  in  the  wide  and  generous  spirit  of 
the  king,  but  with  the  activity  of  a  born  administra- 
tor. It  was  the  sense  that  the  cause  of  education 
was  the  cause  of  religion  itself  that  inspired  Alfred 
and  Dunstan  alike  with  their  zeal  for  teaching.  It 
was  this,  too,  that  gave  its  popular  and  vernacular 
character  to  the  new  literature.  In  ^Elfric,  a  scholar 
of  -^thelwold's  school  at  Winchester,'  we  see  the 
type  of  the  religious  and  educational  popularizer. 
He  aids  the  raw  teacher  with  an  English  grammar 
of  Latin ;  he  helps  the  unlearned  priest  by  providing 
for  him  eighty  English  homilies  in  all  as  a  course 
of  teaching  for  the  year ;  he  assists  Bishop  Wulfwig 
and  Archbishop  Wulfstan  by  furnishing  them  with 
pastoral  letters  to  their  clergy.  His  homilies  were 
so  greedily  read  that  his  admirers  begged  from  him 
some  English  lives  of  the  saints,  and  the  prayer  of  a 
friend,  ^thelweard,"  drew  him  into  editing  and  wTit- 

^  Lingard,  Angl.-Sax.  Church,  ii.  311  et  seq. 

'  This  iEthelweard  was  possibly  the  ealdorman  of  that  name,  whose 
chronicle  has  been  mentioned.    See  p.  49,  note  i. — (A.  S.  G.) 


226  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VII.  ing  an  English  version  of  the  Bible,  which,  omitting 

The     such  parts  as  he  judged  unedifying  for  the  times,  he 

^dome?^" carried  on  from  Genesis  to  the  book  of  Judges. 

955^88        ^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^y  ^"  religious  writings  that  the  fol- 

^, — . ,  lowers  of  Dunstan  carried  on  the  work  of  literary 

Chronicle  .  .      .  i   •    i     i       i   i  • 

of  revival.  The  historic  impulse  w^hich  had  been  given 
ojceser.  ^^  ^jfj-ed  and  had  promised  so  great  a  future  for 
our  annals  in  the  days  of  Eadward  had  died  down 
under  his  successors.  Of  no  reigns  have  we,  in  fact, 
more  meagre  particulars,  so  far  as  their  military  and 
political  events  are  concerned,  than  of  the  reigns  of 
Eadmund,  Eadred,  Eadwig,  and  Eadgar.  The  great 
Chronicle  of  Worcester  seems  to  have  remained  sus- 
pended during  this  period,  nor  do  we  know  of  any 
other  record  which  could  have  supplied  its  deficien- 
cy. But  the  intellectual  activity  of  Dunstan's  school 
could  hardly  fail  in  the  end  to  fix  upon  a  work  so 
congenial  as  that  of  historical  composition.  To 
Dunstan  himself  we  owe  the  life  of  Eadmund,  the 
martyr-king  of  East  Anglia,  since  it  was  at  his  sug- 
gestion that  Abbo,  the  most  notable  of  the  French 
scholars,  was  summoned  from  Fleury,  and  induced 
to  undertake  it.  His  great  assistant,  ^thelwold  of 
Winchester,  was  possibly  the  author  of  the  last  con- 
tinuation of  the  Chronicle  of  Winchester,  the  meagre 
and  irregular  annals  from  the.death  of  Eadward  the 
Elder  to  the  death  of  Eadgar,  which  must  have  been 
put  together  in  Eadward  the  Martyr's  reign,  and 
whose  defects  their  author  strove  to  supply  by  in- 
terspersing them  with  the  noble  historic  songs  from 
Cyneheard's  Song  Book.  Dunstan's  other  great 
helper,  Oswald,  unconscious  both  of  ^thelwold's 
labors  and  of  the  nobler  work  of  the  annalist  of  the 


THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  327 

time  of  Eadward  the  Elder,  seems  to  have  taken  a  chap.vh. 
copy   of   the    original   chronicle  of  Alfred  to  his      The 
church    at  Worcester,  where   the   meagre  jottings  domen. " 
with  which  he  linked  it  to  the  story  of  his  own  day  95^33. 
became  the  beginning  of  a  later  chronicle  which 
was  afterwards  to  equal  the  literary  excellence  of 
that  of  Eadward/     The  final  cessation  of  yEthel- 
wold  s  chronicle  with  the  death  of  Eadgar  trans- 
ferred  the  centre  of   English   historical   literature 
from  the  Church  of  Winchester  to  that  of  Worces- 
ter; and  it  was  Worcester  which  retained  this  his- 
torical supremacy  till  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tur}^  from  the  days  of    Oswald  and   ^^thelred  to 
those  of  Henry  the  First.     In  no  place  was  the  his- 
torical tradition   and  the  national  sentiment  cher- 
ished with  greater  tenacity,  and  we  shall  see  how 
at  a  far  later  time,  in  the  English  revival  after  the   i 
Norman  Conquest,  this  national  sentiment  passed 
through  the  Latin  version  of  the  Chronicle  by  Flor- 

*  The  beginning  of  consecutive  annals  in  this  Chronicle,  at  991, 
seems  to  fix  its  compilation  (after  working  up  the  Chronicle  of  887) 
at  this  date.  Oswald  died  a  year  later,  in  992,  so  that  the  work  lies 
with  him  or  his  successor.  Bishop  Aldulf  ( 992-1002 ).  Anyhow, 
the  compiler — if  the  Peterborough  Chronicle,  as  seems  probable, 
accurately  represents  this  Chronicle — knew  only  the  Chronicle  of 
887,  and  was  ignorant  of  the  Eadwardian  annals,  the  Gesta  of  Lady 
iEthelfiaed,  and  the  continuation  of  ^thelwold.  Consecutive  en- 
tries do  not  begin  till  991.  This  Chronicle  is  the  first  or  lost  Chron- 
icle of  Worcester,  a  work  which  we  do  not  possess  in  its  original 
form,  but  which,  luckily,  is  still  preserved  to  us  almost  entire  in  a 
copy  made  for  Peterborough  in  the  twelfth  century,  called  the  Pe- 
terborough Chronicle.  In  this  early  part,  too,  it  is  virtually  copied 
by  the  extant  Worcester  Chronicle,  first  composed  about  1016,  and 
of  which  we  have  more  to  say  hereafter ;  while  the  Chronicle  of 
Florence  of  Worcester  is  a  Latin  translation  of  it  made  in  the  twelfth 
century  with  large  additions,  from  whatever  source  they  may  be  de- 
rived. 


328  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VII.  ence  of  Worcester  to  mould  the  great  school  of 

The      Latin  chroniclers  which  sprang  up  with  William  of 

^domen^^'  Malmcsbury.     From  the  death  of  Eadgar  to  that  of 

955^988    ^^^^^  ^^^^  Worcester  Chronicle  is  the  one  glimmer- 

—  ing  light  in  the  darkness  of  our  history.' 
Decline  of  Xhc  Danish  wars  had  told  as  hardly  on  religion 
"'d^m!'  as  on  learning.  We  have  already  seen  the  strife 
which  the  Church  had  long  been  waging  with  the 
customs  and  traditions  of  Englishmen  and  the  pro- 
found change  which  Christianity  had  worked  and 
was  still  working  in  the  national  life.  But  in  the 
course  of  the  long  struggle  with  the  Danes  the 
character  of  the  Church  itself  had  undergone  radi- 
cal modifications.  English  Christianity  had,  in  its 
earlier  days,  been  specially  monastic.  But  the  Dan- 
ish strife  had  proved  almost  fatal  to  monasticism. 
The  monasteries  had  been  above  all  the  points  of 
attack;  and  throughout  the  Danelaw  not  a  single 
religious  house  survived.  What  is  more  remarkable 
is  the  almost  complete  disappearance  of  monastic 
life  in  English  Mercia  and  in  Wessex  itself.  In 
Wessex,  indeed,  the  temper  of  the  people  seems  to 
have  become  so  averse  to  it  that  when  ^^Ifred  first 
undertook  its  revival,  though  he  succeeded  in  draw- 
ing women  to  his  nunneries  at  Hyde  and  at  Shaftes- 
bury, he  was  forced  to  send  abroad  for  monks  to 
fill  his  house  at  Athelney.  Malmesbury,  indeed, 
and   Glastonbury  still  went  on;   but  the  latter  at 

^  This  is  a  most  important  point  in  its  bearing  on  any  real  criti- 
cism of  the  history  of  this  period.  Of  this  one  contemporary  Chron- 
icle the  rest  are  only  versions  of  a  later  date ;  and  the  additions 
made  to  it  by  Florence  of  Worcester  and  writers  of  his  time,  when 
uncorroborated  by  other  evidence,  have  no  higher  authority  than 
any  other  historical  traditions  of  the  twelfth  century. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       329 

least  had  ceased,  if  we  may  judge  from  Dunstan's  chap.vh. 
story,  to  preserve  the' character  of  a  monastery  under     The 
rule.'     Its  re-establishment  under  Dunstan's  abbacy,  ^JormMi^" 
and  the  refounding  of   Abingdon  by  i^thelwold,  gg^gg 
was  all  that  had  been  done  towards  the  revival  of     — 
monasticism  in  the  days  of  Eadred ;  and  in  neither 
case  was  the  revival  a  complete  one."     Both  seem  to 
have  been  as  yet  rather  gatherings  of  clerks  and 
schoolboys  than  abbeys  in  the  stricter  sense. 

So  great,  however,  had  been  the  part  which  mo- 
nasticism had  played  in  our  early  religious  history, 
that  statesmen  like  Alfred,  as  we  have  seen,  re- 
garded its  restoration  as  a  necessary  part  of  the  res- 
toration of  religion  itself;'  and  this  feeling  was  no 
doubt  quickened  by  the  view  of  the  reformed  Bene- 
dictinism  which,  beginning  at  Cluny,was  now  spread- 
ing over  Flanders  and  France.  The  Cluniac  reform 
had  already  stirred  the  zeal  of  English  churchmen ; 
Archbishop  Odo  had  sent  his  nephew  Oswald  to 
study  it  at  Fleury,*  and  ^thelwold,  with  a  like  pur- 
pose, sent  to  the  same  abbey  one  of  his  clerks  from 
Abingdon.'     It  was  only  in  964,  however,  that  the 

^  Stubbs,  Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  Ixxxv. 

'  The  Life  of  ^thelwold  speaks  of  the  "  clerici  de  Glastonia"  who 
accompanied  him  to  Abingdon.  It  was  not,  in  fact,  till  Eadgar's 
reign  that  one  of  these,  Osgar,  was  sent  to  learn  the  Benedictine 
rule  at  Fleury. — Vit.  S.  ^thelwoldi,  App.  to  Hist.  Abingdon  (ed. 
Stevenson),  ii.  258,  259. 

'  "  The  movement,  with  all  its  drawbacks,  was  justifiable,  perhaps 
absolutely  necessary.  .  .  .  We. cannot  doubt  that  a  monastic  mission 
system  was  necessary  for  the  recovery  of  middle  England  from  the 
desolation  and  darkness  which  had  been  brought  upon  it  by  the 
Danes,  or  that  the  monastic  revival  was  in  those  regions  both  suc- 
cessful and  useful." — Stubbs,  Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  xcviii. 

*  Vit.  Oswaldi,  Raine,  Hist,  of  Church  of  York,  i.  413. 
^    *  Vit.  .^thelwoldi,  Stevenson,  Hist.  Abingdon,  ii.  259. 


230       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VII.  reform  penetrated  into  England  itself.  As  Ead- 
The  gar's  marriage  ,with  ^Ifthryth  took  place  about 
^domen!^"this  time,  a  marriage  which  connected  him  with  the 
955^88  ealdormen  of  East  Anglia,  who  afterw^ards  showed 
—  themselves  earnest  in  their  friendship  for  monks,  it 
is  possible  that  it  w^as  to  his  new  queen's  impulse 
that  the  king  owed  the  zeal  he  showed  from  this 
moment  in  the  diffusion  of  monasticism.  It  was 
with  Eadgar's  support  that  ^^thelwold,  who  had 
been  raised  the  year  before  to  the  see  of  Winches- 
ter, supplanted  clerks  by  monks  in  his  own  cathe- 
dral church  and  carried  the  new  Benedictinism  over 
his  diocese,  as  it  was  with  the  support  of  the  East- 
Anglian  ealdormen  that  he  turned  from  thence  into 
East  Anglia  and  revived  the  great  abbeys  of  the 
Fens.  It  was  significant,  however,  of  the  unpopu- 
larity of  the  movement  that  no  further  extension 
took  place  till  five  years  later,  when  Oswald,  who 
had  now  become  Bishop  of  Worcester,  introduced 
monks  into  his  own  cathedral  city  and  its  neighbor- 
hood, and  that  Oswald  ventured  on  no  further 
foundations  in  his  vast  Mercian  diocese,  nor  on  the 
introduction  of  monasticism  at  all  into  his  later 
arch -diocese  of  York.  Northumbria,  indeed,  re- 
mained without  a  monastic  house  to  the  verge  of 
the  Norman  Conquest.  The  Church  itself  gave  the 
movement  little  countenance.  Only  two  bishops  took 
interest  in  it,  and  even  Dunstan  himself  seems  to 
have  done  little.  His  assent' must  have  been  given 
to  its  progress ;  but  though  he  held  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury for  some  twenty-seven  years,  he  founded  no 
Benedictine  house  in  Kent,  nor  did  he  follow  ^thel- 
wold  or  Oswald  in  the  introduction  of  monks  into  his 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       331 

church  at  Canterbury.     Clerks,  indeed,  remained  at  chap.vh. 
Canterbury  till  the  time  of  Archbishop  JEliric'  The 

In  spite,  therefore,  of  the  energy  of  the  king,  the  dormen. ' 
monastic  movement  remained  a  local  one.     Tradi-  gs^gg. 
tion  ascribed  to  Eadsrar  the  foundation  of  forty  mon-  _ — 

c5  ^  J  xhe  regit- 

asteries ;  and  though  it  would  be  hard  to  fill  up  \}ci^iarandsec' 
list,  even  if  we  attribute  to  him  whatever  work  was"^*^*^^ 
done  throughout  his  realm,  it  is  certain  that  it  was 
to  his  time  that  English  monasticism  looked  back 
in  later  days  as  the  beginning  of  its  continuous  life. 
But,  after  all  his  efforts,  monasteries  were  only  firmly 
planted  in  Wessex  and  East  Anglia,  and  there  only 
by  the  personal  efforts  of  king  and  ealdormen.  In 
the  Mercian  ealdormanry  there  were  only  a  few  mon- 
asteries about  Worcester.  In  the  Northumbrian 
earldom  there  were  none  at  all.  Such  a  failure  can 
hardly  be  attributable  to  the  mere  strife  over  ques- 
tions of  property  which  these  foundations  may  have 
brought ;  it  shows  a  want  of  zeal  for  the  re-establish- 
ment of  religious  houses  in  the  people  at  large.  The 
system,  indeed,  no  longer  answered  to  the  religious 
needs  of  the  country.  Even  had  the  stricter  rule 
which  the  reformers  introduced  allowed  the  new 
Benedictine  houses  to  do  the  same  work  which  had 
been  carried  on  by  the  mission-preachers  of  the  ear- 

»  Prof.  Stubbs  (Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  cxix.)  shows  that  Os- 
wald and  ^thelwold  were  the  chief  actors  in  the  dispossession  of 
the  "secular  clerks  who  held  monastic  property,"  that  the  general 
mass  of  the  clergy  were  untouched,  that  all  we  know  of  Dunstan's 
part  in  the  movement  is  "that  he  did  not  oppose  it,"  that  he  left 
secular  clerks  at  Canterbury,  and  that  his  ecclesiastical  legislation 
contains  nothing  against  clerical  marriage.  "  It  is  the  enforcement 
of  monastic  discipline,  not  the  compulsory  celibacy  of  the  clergy, 
that  is  the  object  of  the  clerical  reforms ;  and  in  this  Dunstan  only 
partly  sympathized." — Stubbs,  Memor.  St.  Dunst.,  Introd.  p.  cxix. 


332       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VII.  lier  monasteries,  they  were  now  not  needed  for  it. 

Th6     Their  place  had  been  taken  by  the  parish  priest,  and 

^dorme^^^"  the  influence  of  the  monastic  clergy  had  been  super- 

95^88  seded  by  the  parochial  organization  of  the  Church. 
—  But  while  the  Danish  wars  had  been  fatal  to  the 
monks — the  "  regular  clergy,"  as  they  w^ere  called — 
they  had  also  dealt  heavy  blows  at  the  "  seculars," 
or  parish  priests.  The  long  strife  had  told  as  hard- 
ly on  the  learning  and  morals  of  the  priesthood  as 
on  their  wealth.  The  injunctions,  of  synod  and  Wit- 
enagemot  failed  to  enforce  clerical  celibacy.  Their 
failure  is  written  on  the  very  face  of  the  dooms  them- 
selves. "  Let  him  who  will  abstain  from  concubin- 
age with  women,"  runs  a  doom  of  the  time,  "  and 
preserve  his  chastity,  have  God's  mercy,  and  be 
worthy  besides  for  worldly  honors  of  thegn-wer  and 
thegn-right,  both  in  life  and  in  the  grave ;  and  he 
who  will  not  do  that  which  is  befitting  his  order,  let 
his  work  wane  before  God  and  before  the  world."* 
But  the  loss  of  social  rights  seems  to  have  had  little 
effect  on  the  priesthood  at  large,  while  in  the  Dane- 
law clerical  marriage  appears  to  have  been  legally 
recognized. 
,  While  it  destroyed  monasticism  and  ruined  dis- 

bhhops  ^ip^i^^  i^  the  lower  clergy,  the  strife  with  the  Danes 
had  greatly  raised  the  importance  of  the  higher.  In 
the  war  of  religion  the  bishops  had  come  to  the 
front  as  warriors  and  as  statesmen.  In  Wessex,  at 
least  from  the  time  of  ^thelwulf,  we  see  them  drawn 
into  State  employment,  and  politically  linked  with 
the  court.     The  kings,  in  fact,  seem  to  have  seized 

^  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  307;   Laws  of  ^thelred.     Cnut  renews 
this  doorri. 


965-988. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       333 

on  the  episcopate  as  a  force  which  might  hold  in  chap.vh. 
check  the  provincial  isolation  and  the  independence  The 
of  the  ealdormen.  The  check  was  to  some  extent  domen. " 
an  efficient  one,  for  as  the  ealdorman  was  the  tem- 
poral lord  of  each  under-kingdom,  so  the  bishop  was 
its  spiritual  lord,  and  in  Witenagemot  or  shire-moot 
the  two  sat  side  by  side  as  equal  powers.  It  was 
probably  with  this  view  that  the  king  had  so  lavished 
wealth  on  the  prelates  —  gifts  and  restorations  of 
lands,  wide  grants  of  jurisdiction,  military  and  judi- 
cial privileges :  it  was,  at  any  rate,  a  distinct  result 
of  Dunstan's  policy.  An  important  political  end 
was  gained  when  he  placed  the  choice  of  bishops  in 
the  hands  of  the  crown,  and  insured  their  fidelity  by 
reserving  to  the  crown  a  power  of  deposition.  And 
not  only  did  the  bishops  thus  become  crown  nomi- 
nees, but  they  were  by  that  fact  transferred,  as  it 
were,  out  of  their  own  world  into  the  political  world. 
With  the  primacy  of  Dunstan  separate  ecclesiastical 
councils  cease,'  and  the  bishop's  place  is  henceforth 
in  the  Witenagemot,  or  in  the  royal  council.  The' 
northern  primate  Dunstan  tied  to  the  southern 
throne  by  annexing  to  the  see  of  York  the  southern 
see  of  Worcester,  and  this  arrangement  lasted  to 
the  Conquest.  The  rest  of  the  bishops  appear  from 
this  time  in  the  light  of  great  secular  powers  whose 
wealth  and  influence  were  at  the  disposal  of  the 
crown,  and  the  bulk  of  whom  were  among  its  regu- 
lar councillors.  It  is,  indeed,  from  Dunstan  that 
we  may  date  the  beginnings  of  that  political  episco- 
pate which  remained  so  marked  a  feature  of  English 
history  from  this  time  to  the  Reformation. 

'  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  276. 


^^.       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VII.      The  great  ealdormanrles  in  middle  and  eastern 
The      Britain  can  have  had  hardly  more  connection  with 
^dorme^n^^' Eadgar's   direct  government  than  the  earldom  of 
955^88   ^^^  north.    In  Mercia,  the  independence  of  ^Ifhere, 
—  ,   the  ealdorman  or  "  Heretoga '  of  the  Mercians,"  was 
"rl^!  ^  probably  little   hampered   by  his  acknowledgment 
of  Eadgar  s  nominal  supremacy,  nor  is  it  likely  that 
the  supremacy  was  less  nominal  over  East  Anglia. 
What  really  held  Britain  together  was  not  the  pow- 
er which  the  king  exercised  over  the  ealdormen, 
but  the  power  which  the  ealdormen  exercised  over 
the  king.     Throughout  Eadgar  s  reign,  if  we  look, 
in  the  dearth  of  historic  information,  to  the  witness 
of  the  charters,  ^^Ifhere  and  his  brother  ^Ifheah 
stand  at  the  head  of  the  royal  counsellors,  and  next 
to  them  stand  the  ealdormen  of  East  Anglia  and 
the  ealdorman  of  Essex."     The  power  of  the  crown, 
in  fact,  was  in  the  hands  of  these  great  nobles ;  and 
the  cool  judgment  of  king  and  primate  was  shown 
in  their  recognition  of  this  fact,  and  in  their  absti- 
nence from  any  useless  struggle  against  it  such  as 
wrecked  England  under  ^^thelred.     They  restricted 
/  themselves  to  Wessex,  and  mainly  to  the  work  of 
^  furthering  public  order  in  Wessex.      The  laws  of 
Eadgar '  are  brief,  and  chiefly  devoted  to  the  police 

^  See  grant  of  Oswald,  Cod.  Dip.  494,  "  with  leave  and  witness  of 
Eadgar,  King  of  the  Angles,  and  of  ^Ifhere,  Heretoga  of  the  Mer- 
cians." 

^  For  Eadgar's  reign  our  materials  arc  of  the  scantiest.  The 
Chronicle  breaks  wholly  down,  and  gives  some  half-dozen  meagre 
entries  for  the  entire  reign ;  the  information  of  Dunstan's  biogra- 
phers all  but  ceases  with  Eadgar's  accession,  and  those  of  .^thel- 
wold  or  Oswald  add  little  but  facts  connected  with  the  monastic 
movement.     For  the  signatures  to  the  charters,  see  an/ea,  p.  303. 

"  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  258-279. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^35 

of  the  realm,  to  developing  the  remedial  jurisdiction  chap.vh. 
of  the  king,  securing  the  regular  holding  of  the  The 
courts,  organizing  the  country  in  its  hundreds  '  for  domen. ' 
the  suppression  of  crime  and  maintenance  of  the  95^88. 
peace,  and  promoting  uniformity  in  measures '  and  — 
in  the  coinage."  The  same  purpose  of  order  may 
be  seen  in  the  ravaging  of  Thanet  in  968,'  as  a  pun- 
ishment for  the  practice  of  wreckage  among  its  in- 
habitants, and  in  an  extension  of  the  royal  progress- 
es which  after-tradition  associated  with  the  reign  of 
Eadgar.  "  Every  summer,"  says  Malmesbury,'  "  im- 
mediately after  the  close  of  the  Easter  Festival," 
which  was  kept  at  Winchester,  "  Eadgar  used  to  or- 
der ships  to  be  gathered  together  along  every  shore, 
since  his  wont  was  to  voyage  with  the  eastern  fleet 
as  far  as  the  western  side  of  the  island,  and  on  its 
return  home  to  proceed  with  the  western  fleet  as  far 
as  the  north,  and  from  thence  to  return  with  the 
northern  fleet  to  the  eastern  coast."  The  object  of 
this  cruise  was  to  sweep  the  sea  of  pirates.  "  In 
winter  and  spring,"  on  the  other  hand,  that  is  when 
his  home  progress  would  least  interfere  with  the  cult- 
ure of  the  land,  "he  rode  through  every  shire,  in- 
quiring into  the  law-dooms  of  the  powerful  men,  and 
showing  himself  a  severe  avenger  of  any  wrong  done 
in  the  name  of  justice." 

'  The  "  Hundred  "  first  appears  by  name  under  Eadgar. — Thorpe, 
Anc.  Laws,  i.  259. 

^  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  237,  238,  tells  how  Dunstan 
ordered  pegs  to  be  inserted  in  all  drinking-cups,  that  none  might 
drink  deep  without  knowing  it. 

'  If  we  may  trust  later  tradition,  Eadgar  issued  a  new  coinage  in 
975,  as  the  old  had  become  so  clipped  as  to  have  lost  its  standard 
weight.     Matt.  Paris,  Chron.  Maj.  a.  975.— (A.  S.  G.) 

*  Eng.  Chron.  a.  968.  *  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  252. 


2^5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.vir.      We  need  not  accept  every  detail  of  this  story,  but 

The     it  may  be  taken  as  showing  the  existence  of  an  or- 

^dormen^^'ganized  System  of  judicial  and  administrative  prog- 

955^88  ^^sses  at  this  time,  as  well  as  the  continuance  of 
—     the  naval  system  which  had  begun  under  ^^  If  red. 

Eadgar.  It  was,  indeed,  with  work  such  as  this  that  Eadgar 
seems  to  have  been  mainly  occupied  throughout  his 
reign.  Of  political  measures  we  see  hardly  a  trace. 
By  the  union  of  the  sees  of  Worcester  and  York 
under  a  single  prelate,  Dunstan  probably  purposed 
to  get  a  new  hold  upon  the  north  ;  and  it  may  be 
that  a  more  distinctly  political  aim  is  seen  in  the 
coronation  of  Eadgar  at  Bath,  in  973,'  when  the  two 
primates  united  in  setting  on  the  head  of  Eadgar 
what  may  have  been  a  distinctively  national  crown.'* 
But  if  the  ceremony  was  meant  as  a  prelude  to  any 
effort  for  the  restoration  of  the  royal  power,  its  pur- 
pose was  foiled  by  Eadgar's  death  only  two  years 
after.'     His  death  was  a  signal  for  the  completion 

*  The  fact  of  this  coronation  alone  is  given  by  the  contemporary 
Chronicle  :  Oswald's  biographer  (about  a.d.  iooo)  seems  to  look  on 
it  as  one  of  the  common  "  wearings  of  the  crown,"  but  gives,  in  his 
verbose  way  (Vit.  Oswaldi,  Raine,  Hist,  of  Church  of  York,  i.  437),  a 
full  description  of  the  ceremony,  with  the  coronation  oath ;  at  the 
Conquest,  Osbern,  and  Gotselin  in  his  life  of  St.  Edith,  connect  it 
with  the  close  of  a  penance  of  seven  years  laid  on  Eadgar  for  his 
violation  of  a  nun.  See  Stubbs,  Memor.  St,  Dunst.,  Introd.  pp.  xcix.- 
ci.,  who  evidently  leans  to  Robertson's  opinion  (Hist.  Essays,  pp. 
203-215)  that  the  coronation  "was  a  solemn  typical  enunciation  of 
the  consummation  of  English  unity,  an  inauguration  of  the  king  of 
all  the  nations  of  England,  celebrated  by  the  two  archbishops,  possi- 
bly with  special  instructions  or  recognition  from  Rome ;  possibly  in 
imitation  of  the  imperial  consecration  of  Edgar's  kinsmen,  the  first 
and  second  Otto ;  possibly  as  a  declaration  of  the  imperial  charac- 
ter of  the  English  crown  itself."  For  myself,  I  cannot  think  the 
facts  sufficient  to  support  this  very  tempting  theorj'. 

»  Eng.  Chron.  a.  973.  »  Ibid.  a.  975. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

of  the  work  of  political  disintegration.     Till  nowrRr^^«^ii. 
great  ealdormen  had  contented  themselves  with  de-     The 
taching  their  own  ealdormanries  from  the  crown,  domen. ' 
and  limiting  its  actual  rule  to  Wessex,  while  they  gg^gg 
controlled  its  action  by  their  united  influence.     But     — 
this  influence  was  now  to  be  broken  by  strife  among 
themselves,  and  by  a  rivalry  for  power  over  the  crown 
itself.    Eadgar  had  hardly  reached  middle  age  when 
he  died,  in  975,'  and  the  children  he  had  left  were 
both  mere  boys,  for  Eadward  can  scarcely  have  been 
more  than  thirteen,  or  -^thelred  more  than  seven. 
The  accession  of  a  child-king  left  the  royal  power 
in  the  hands  of  any  great  noble  or  prelate  who  could 
control  the  court,  and   the  opportunity  stirred  to 
life  the  ambition  of  the  two  great  ealdormen  who 
divided  Mid-Britain  between  them. 

Their  jealousy  of  one  another  had  placed  the  Mer-  ^^'^/'^^^^ 
cian  ealdorman,  ^^  If  here,  at  the  head  of  an  anti-mo- 
nastic party,  while  i^thelwine,  of  East  Anglia,  with 
his  maternal  uncle,  Byrhtnoth  of  Essex,  stood  at  the 
head  of  a  monastic  ;  and  on  Eadgar's  death,  ^Ifhere 
immediately  restored  the  seculars  to  the  churches 
in  his  ealdormanry  from  which  they  had  been  driven,' 
while  ^thelwine  gathered  an  army  in  East  Anglia 
to  defend  the  cause  of  the  monks.'  The  monastic 
question,  however,  was  a  mere  side  issue.  The 
main  aim  of  each  of  the  rivals  was  to  secure  the  king, 
and  their  quarrel  at  once  took  the  form^jqi  a  dispute 
over  the  succession,  ^^thelwine,  himself  the  broth- 
er of  the  first  husband  of  Eadgar's  queen,  supported 
the  claims  of  her  child,  ^thelred,  which  were  backed 

*  He  was  only  thirty-two.    See  Eng.  Chron.  a.  973. 
*»  Eng.  Chron.  a.  975.  ^  Flor.  Wore.  (ed.  Thorpe),  i.  144. 

22 


^^8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VII.  by  the  boy's  mother  and  the  whole  monastic  party. 
The  On  the  other  hand,  Eadward  was  as  vigorously  sup- 
^dorme^n^^"  ported  by  .^Ifhere.  Civil  war  was,  in  fact,  only 
956^88  averted  by  the  resolute  action  of  the  minister  who 
—  still  held  Wessex  in  his  grasp.  The  will  of  Eadgar, 
which  named  Eadward  as  his  successor,  must  have 
been  drawn  up  under  Dunstan's  counsel,  and  the 
rising  of  ^thelwine  was,  in  fact,  a  rising  against 
Dunstan's  influence.  His  influence,  as  we  shall  see, 
was  still  dominant  with  Eadward,  while  under  -^th- 
elred  it  would  have  been  at  once  set  aside,  as  it  was, 
in  fact,  set  aside  as  soon  as  his  reign  began.  Dun- 
stan,  therefore,  threw  himself  on  the  side  of  ^^Ifhere, 
and  he  was  joined  by  his  fellow-primate ;  for  if  the 
monastic  party  backed  i^thelwine,  its  head.  Arch- 
bishop Oswald,  showed  himself  greater  than  his 
party.  The  constitutional  precedent  which  Dunstan 
had  set  in  the  coronation  at  Bath  was  now  resolute- 
ly turned  to  use.  As  the  representatives  of  northern 
and  southern  England  the  two  primates  had  but 
two  years  before  set  the  crown  of  all  England  on 
the  brow  of  Eadgar ;  they  now  settled  the  question 
of  the  dispute  over  the  succession  by  setting  the 
crown  pn  the  head  of  Eadward.' 
Eadward  j]^^  rcign  of  the  young  king,  however,  was  a  short 
Martyr,  and  troubled  one,  and  a  famine  which  immediately 
followed  his  accession  no  doubt  increased  the 
troubles."  ^UA  stormy  Witenagemot  in  977,  at  Kirt- 
lington,  was  followed  by  a  second  as  stormy  meeting 
at  Calne,  in  978,  where  "  all  the  chief  Witan  fell 
from  an  upper  chamber  save  the  holy  Archbishop 

'  Flor.  Wore.  (ed.  Thorpe),  i.  145  ;  Eng.  Chron.  a.  975. 
'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  975. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  339 

Dunstan,  who  alone  supported  himself  on  a  beam.'"  chap.vil 
The  anxiety  of  the  later  hagiographers '  to  represent     The 
the  strife  in  these  meetings  as  mainly  concerned  domen.' 
with  the  monastic  question  has  effectually  distorted  95^88. 
its  real  character.    What  we  may  dimly  see  on  Dun-     — 
Stan's  part  is  an  effort  throughout  to  save  the  crown 
from  the  domination  of  the  nobles.     The  opponents 
of  Eadward  had  professed  to  base  their  opposition 
on  fear  of  "  the  harsh  temper  with  which  he  was 
wont  to  punish  the  outrages  of  those  of  his  court ;  " ' 
they  dreaded  that  he  would  "  govern  by  his  own  un- 
bridled will,"'  that  he  would  be,  in  a  word,  what  they 
afterwards  called   ^^thelred — a  king  '  redeless,'  or 
uncounselled.     In  the  fear  thus  expressed  lay  the 
germ  of  the  rising  contest  between  the  great  nobles 
and  the  crown,  which  was  to  lay  England  in  a  few 
years  at  the  feet  of  the  Danes.     We  may  see,  per- 
haps, the  purpose  of  the  primate  to  assert  the  su- 
premacy of  the  king  in  the  banishment  of  Earl  Oslac 
of  Deira,'  a  banishment  which  enabled  Dunstan  to 


'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  977,  978. 

'  The  biographies  of  Dunstan,  which  are  almost  our  sole  materials 
for  this  time,  make  the  whole  history  turn  on  a  struggle  about  the 
monks,  in  which  ^thelwine  is  the  head  of  the  monastic,  and  ^If- 
here  of  the  anti-monastic  party,  while  Dunstan  is  represented  as 
persecuted  on  account  of  his  monastic  sympathies.  All  this,  how- 
ever, is  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  attitude  of  Oswald,  who  was 
undoubtedly  the  leader  of  the  monastic  party,  and  who  yet  crowns 
Eadward  in  the  teeth  of  .^thelwine ;  and,  above  all,  v^iii^the  attitude 
of  Dunstan  himself,  who,  throughout  Eadward's  reign,  is  supported 
by  the  anti-monastic  ^Ifhere  and  opposed  by  ^thelwine  and  the 
monastic  party,  while  on  the  accession  of  ^thelred  he  is  actually 
driven  from  power  by  the  latter. 

^  Eadmer,  Life  of  St.  Dunstan,  sec.  35. 

*  Osbern,  sec.  37. 

*  See  the  poem  in  Eng.  Chron.  a.  975,  which  "seems  to  connect 


340  THE   CONQUEST  -OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VII.  unite  Deira  and  Bernicia  under  Waltheof,  a  ruler, 
The     probably,  of  Oswulf's  house  and  so  of  English  blood, 

^domfn^^'as  well  as  an   ancestor  of  notable  men.     But  the 

955^^88.  banishment  is  memorable  in  itself  as  the  first  of  a 
—     series  of  such  measures  by  which  the  crown  from 
this  time  struck  at  the  growing  power  of  the  earls 
and  ealdormen. 

Murder  of  j^  the  actual  struggle  between  the  rival  parties, 
Dunstan,  it  may  be  gathered,  played  to  some  extent 
the  part  of  mediator,  but  his  tendency  as  the  up- 
holder and  minister  of  Eadward  must  have  swayed 
him  to  the  side  of  ^^  If  here,  whose  support  of  the 
king  continued  to  the  end  of  his  reign;  while  the 
party  of  the  East-Anglian  ealdormen  were,  as  we  see 
from  the  revolution  which  followed,  opponents  of 
Eadward  and,  with  Eadward,  of  Dunstan.'  The 
struggle  was,  in  fact,  cut  short  by  the  young  king's 
murder."  Eadward  was  slain  at  Corfe  soon  after  the 
council  of  Calne,'  but  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
murder  we  know   nothing  with  certainty.      Of  its 

this  step,"  says  Mr.  Freeman,  "with  the  predominance  of  ^Ifhere 
and  the  anti-monastic  party." 

^  It  would  appear  that  the  monks  were  less  powerful  under  Ead- 
ward than  under  Eadgar.  This  and  the  predominance  of  the  mo- 
nastic party  under  ^thelred  may,  perhaps,  account  for  Osbern's 
sneer  at  ^thelred  as  "monk  rather  than  warrior." 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  979.  According  to  the  later  story  of  William  of 
Malmesbury,  Eadward  was  returning  home  alone  from  the  chase, 
when  his  stepmother,  ^Ifthryth,  caused  him  to  be  stabbed  by  a  ser- 
vant while^'l^npras  drinking  from  the  cup  which  she  had  handed  to 
him.  In  spite  of  his  wound  he  spurred  his  horse  forward  to  join  his 
companions,  but  one  foot  slipping,  he  was  dragged  by  the  other 
through  the  winding  paths,  till  his  death  was  made  known  to  his 
followers  by  the  tracks  of  blood.  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy), 
pp.  258,  259.— (A.  S.  G.) 

*  The  great  council  of  977  at  Kirtlington,  the  second  at  Calne  in 
978,  were  closely  followed  by  the  assassination. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  341 

authors  we  can  have  little  doubt.     The  party  which  chap.vh. 
had  failed  to  set  ^thelred  on  the  throne  four  years     The 
before  now  removed  from  his  path  the  king  whom  domeiL" 
Dunstan  had  set  there.      It  was  they  who  profited  95^88. 
by  the  blow.     Dunstan  withdrew,  powerless,  to  Can-     — 
terbury  after  the  coronation  of  ^thelred,  who  was 
still  but  ten  years  old,'  and  left  the  realm  to  the 
government  of  the  king's  mother  and  her  kinsmen, 
i^thelwine  and  Byrhtnoth.     The  new  rulers  made 
little  effort  to  hide  their  part  in  the  deed,  for  Ead- 
ward  was  buried  at  Wareham  without  the  pomp 
that  befitted  a  king's  burial,  and  no  vengeance  was 
sought  for  his  murder.     "  His  kinsmen,"  the  chron- 
icle says,  bitterly,  "  would  not  avenge  him."    But  the 
pitifulness  which  has  ever  underlain  the  stern  tem- 
per of   Englishmen  awoke  at  the  thought  of  the 
murdered  youth  who  lay  unavenged  in  the  grave  to 
which  he   had  been  hurried.      He  was  counted  a 
martyr,  and  in  the  year  which  followed  his  death 
Ealdorman  i^lfhere  was  strengthened  by  the  pop- 
ular sympathy  to  show  his  devotion  to   the  king 
whose  policy  he  had  doubtless  directed  by  fetching 

'  See  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  257.  The  crowning  was 
at  Kingston,  and  we  still  possess  the  coronation  oath  that  Dunstan 
exacted.  "  This  writing  is  copied,  letter  for  letter,  from  the  writing 
which  Archbishop  Dunstan  delivered  to  our  lord  at  Kingston  on 
the  very  day  when  he  was  consecrated  king,  and  he  forbade  him  to 
give  any  other  pledge  but  this  pledge,  which  he  laid  upon  Christ's 
altar,  as  the  bishop  instructed  him :  '  In  the  name  of  the*Holy  Trin- 
ity, three  things  do  I  promise  to  this  Christian  people,  my  subjects  : 
first,  that  I  will  hold  God's  Church  and  all  the  Christian  people  of  my 
realm  in  true  peace ;  second,  that  I  will  forbid  all  rapine  and  injus- 
tice to  men  of  all  conditions;  third,  that  I  promise  and  enjoin  jus- 
tice and  mercy  in  all  judgments,  whereby  the  just  and  merciful  God 
may  give  us  all  His  eternal  favor,  who  liveth  and  reigneth.' " — Kem- 
ble,  Sax.  in  Eng.  ii.  35,  36,  note. 


342       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VII.  Eadward's  bones  from  Wareham  and  burying  them 
The     with  much  worship  at  Shaftesbury.' 

^domen^^"     The  new  burial  was  followed  by  a  burst  of  pity 

gg~g  which  forced  even  ^thelwine  and  the  court  to  a 
— :     show  of  reverence.    "  They  that  would  not  bow  afore 

Dimstan.  to  his  Hviug  body  now  bow  humbly  on  knees  to  his 
dead  bones."'  But,  foully  as  it  had  been  won,  the 
power  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  two  eastern  eal- 
dormen,  and  for  a  time  all  went  well.  During  the 
eleven  years  from  979  to  990,  when  the  young  king 
reached  manhood,  there  is  hardly  any  internal  histo- 
ry to  record.  Danish  and  Norwegian  pirates,  indeed, 
appeared  at  the  opening  of  this  period  at  Southamp- 
ton, Chester,  Cornwall,  and  Portland,  but  though 
their  presence  shows  a  loss  of  that  hold  on  the  seas 
which  Eadgar  and  Dunstan  had  so  jealously  main- 
tained, they  were  probably  driven  off  by  the  English 
fleet.  The  hostility  of  the  ealdormen  and  their  boy- 
king  was  directed  rather  against  internal  foes,  against 
Dunstan  and  -^Ifhere.  That  i^lfhere  was  strong 
enough  to  oppose  them  was  shown  by  his  solemn 
translation  of  Eadward's  bones ;  but  three  years  later 
'  they  were  freed  from  all  rivalry  by  his  death,*  for 
though  his  son,  i^lfric,  followed  him  as  Ealdorman 
of  Mercia,  his  opponents  succeeded  in  driving  him 
into  exile  in  985,  and  in  putting  an  end  for  the  time 
to  his  ealdordom.*  The  archbishop,  who  had  with- 
drawn tft  Canterbury,  was  roused  from  his  retire- 
ment by  a  quarrel  of  the  king's  counsellors  with  the 
see  of  Rochester,  in  which  the  lands  of  that  bishop- 
ric, dependent  as  it  was  on  the  primate's  see,  were 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  980.  »  Ibid.  a.  979. 

3  Ibid.  a.  983.  ♦  Ibid.  a.  985. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       3^3 

ravaged  by  the  young  king's  order.'     Dunstan  was  chap.vil 
still  powerful  enough  to  awe  the  government  by  a     The 
threat  of  excommunication  ;  but  in  988  the  last  check  dormen* " 
which  his  existence  had  enforced  on  the  ealdormen  95^38. 
was  removed,  and  the  wild  wailing  with  w^hich  the     — 
crowds  who  filled  the  streets  of  Canterbury  hailed 
the  archbishop's  death  showed  their  prevision  of  the 
ills  which  were  to  fall  on  the  England  that  had  been 
wrested  by  one  ill  deed  from  his  grasp. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  986. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    DANISH    CONQUEST. 
988-1016. 

The  social  We  havc  followed  the  course  of  the  political 
levouion.  ^^^  administrative  changes  which  had  been  brought 
upon  England  by  the  coming  of  the  Danes,  and 
have  seen  how  changes  even  more  important  had 
been  brought  about  in  the  structure  of  society; 
though  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other  the  result  of 
Danish  presence  was  not  so  much  any  direct  modi- 
fication of  English  life  as  the  furtherance  and 
hastening  forward  of  a  process  of  natural  develop- 
ment. It  was,  indeed,  the  break-up  of  the  old  social 
organization  that  united  with  the  political  disinte- 
gration of  the  country  to  reduce  it  to  the  state  of 
weakness  which  startles  us  at  the  close  of  Eadgar's 
days,'  and  it  is  in  the  degradation  of  the  class  in 

*  "Towards  the  closing  period  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  polity  I 
should  imagine  that  nearly  every  acre  of  land  in  England  had  be- 
come boc-land  ;  and  that,  as  a  consequence  of  this,  the  condition  of 
the  freeman  became  depressed,  while  the  estates  of  the  lords  in- 
creased in  number  and  extent.  In  this  way  the  ceorlas  or  free  cul- 
tivators gradually  vanished,  yielding  to  the  ever-growing  force  of 
the  nobler  class,  accepting  a  dependent  position  upon  their  boc- 
land,  and  standing  to  right  in  their  courts,  instead  of  their  own  old 
county  gemotas ;  while  the  lords  themselves  ran  riot,  dealt  with 
their  once  free  neighbors  at  their  own  discretion,  and  filled  the  land 
with  civil  dissensions  which  not  even  the  terrors  of  foreign  invasion 
could  still.     Nothing  can  be  more  clear  than  that  the  universal 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.      '  ^^^ 

which  its  true  strength  lay,  and  not  in  any  outer  at- chap,  vm. 
tack,  that  we  must  look  for  the  cause  of  the  ruin     The 
which  now  hung   over  the  English  realm.     From  conquest 
Alfred's  day  it  had  been    assumed  that    no   man  ggslioie. 
could  exist  without  a  lord,  and  the  "lordless  man"     — 
became  a  sort  of  outlaw  in  the   realm.     The  free- 
man, the  very  base  of  the  older  English  constitu- 
tion, died  down  more  and  more  into  the  "  villein," 
the  man  who  did  suit  and  service  to  a  master,  who 
followed  him  to  the  field,  who  looked  to  his  court 
for  justice,  who  rendered  days  of  service  in  his  de- 
mesne.    Eadgar  s  reign  saw  the  practical  comple- 
tion of  this  great  social  revolution.     It  went  on,  in- 
deed, unequally,  and  was    never   wholly  complete. 
Free  ceorls   remained;    and  they  remained  in  far 
larger  numbers  throughout  northern  England  than 
in  the  south.     But  the  bulk  of  the  ceorls  had  disap- 
peared.    The  free  social  organization  of  the  earlier 
English  conquerors  of  Britain  was  passing  into  the 
social  organization  which  we  call  feudalism ;    and 
the  very  foundations  of  the  old  order  were  broken 
up  in  the  degradation  of  the  freeman  and  in  the  up- 
growth of  the  lord  with  his  dependent  villeins.    The 
same  tendencies  drew  the  lesser  thegns  around  the 
greater  nobles,  and  these  around  the  provincial  eal- 

breaking  up  of  society  in  the  time  of  ^thelred  had  its  source  in 
the  ruin  of  the  old,  free  organization  of  the  country.  The  successes 
of  Swegen  and  Cnut,  and  even  of  William  the  Norman,  had  much 
deeper  causes  than  the  mere  gain  or  loss  of  one  or  more  battles.  A 
nation  never  falls  till  'the  citadel  of  its  moral  being'  has  been  be- 
trayed and  become  untenable.  Northern  invasions  will  not  account 
for  the  state  of  brigandage  which  ^thelred  and  his  Witan  deplore 
in  so  many  of  their  laws.  The  ruin  of  the  free  cultivators  and  the 
overgrowth  of  the  lords  are  much  more  likely  causes." — Kemble, 
Saxons  in  England,  i.  306, 307. 


^.5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VIII.  dormen.  And  this  social  revolution  necessarily 
Th^     brought  a  political  revolution  in  its  train.     The  in- 

cSiTuest  dependence    and    rivalry   of   the   great   ealdormen 

988^16.  seemed  about  to  wreck  completely  the  unity  of  the 
—  State.  Even  in  the  Church  the  bishop  was  parted 
from  the  clergy,  as  the  clergy  itself  was  reft  asun- 
der by  the  strife  of  regular  with  secular.  Nothing, 
indeed,  but  a  force  from  without  could  weld  these 
warring  elements  again  into  a  nation ;  but  the  very 
weakness  which  they  brought  about  made  the  work 
of  such  a  force  easy,  and  laid  England  prostrate  at 
the  foot  of  the  Dane. 

The  king-      Durino:   the   years    of  -^thelwine's   rule   a   new 

aom  of  the  '        ^       ^    ^  i        •  .1 

Danes,  storm  had  been  gathermg  m  the  north.  At  the 
close  of  the  ninth  century  the  kingdoms  of  the 
Danes  had  felt  the  same  impulse  towards  national 
consolidation  which  had  already  given  birth  to  Nor- 
way ;  and  their  union  is  attributed  to  Gorm  the  Old.' 
The  physical  character  of  the  isles  and  of  the  Dan- 
ish territory  on  the  main-land  aided  in  the  rapid  de- 
velopment of  a  great  monarchy;'  the  flat  country, 
penetrated  everywhere  by  arms  of  the  sea,  offered 
few  natural  obstacles  to  the  carrying  out  of  a  single 
will;  and  from  the  first  we  find  in  Denmark  no  he- 
reditary jarls,  as  in  Norway,  nor  petty  chiefs  surviv- 
ing under  their  over-lord,  as  in  Sweden,  but  the  rule 
of  a  king  whose  nobles  were  mere  dependents  on  his 
court.  Under  Gorm,  therefore,  the  whole  strength 
of  the  Danes  was   gathered  up  in  a  single  hand. 

^  Gorm,  according  to  Adam  of  Bremen,  came  of  the  stock  of  a 
Norwegian  conqueror,  Hardegon  or  Harthacnut ;  but  nothing  is 
known  of  his  previous  history,  save  that  he  had  fought  among  the 
Wikings  at  Haslo  in  882. 

'  Dahlmann,  Gesch.  v.  Dannemark,  i.  68,  128. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^47 

We  have  already  seen  how  great  that  strength  was.  chap.vhl 
While  the  Northmen  of  Jutland  were  waging  their  The 
war  with  the  Empire,  and  the  Northmen  of  Norway  conc^est 
mastering  the  string  of  isles  from  Ireland  to  the  ggslioia 
Faeroes,  the  Danes,  who  had  grown  up  in  silence 
round  a  centre  which  tradition  places  at  Lethra  in 
Zeeland,  came  suddenly  to  the  front  and  struck 
fiercely  to  east  and  to  west.*  In  853  they  strove  to 
conquer  Courland  in  the  Baltic.  In  866  they  land- 
ed, under  Inguar,  on  the  shores  of  Britain ;  and  the 
long  and  bitter  warfare,  which  ended  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Danelaw  in  this  island,  must  have 
absorbed  their  energies  till  the  struggle  at  home 
which  set  Gorm  on  the  throne  at  Lethra  about  the 
close  of  the  ninth  century.  Of  that  struggle,  or  of 
the  king's  rule  in  his  new  realm,  we  know  nothing ; 
but  the  strength  which  came  of  union  was  soon 
shown  in  Gorm's  conquest  of  Jutland  —  a  conquest 
which  opened  up  for  the  Danes  a  fresh  field  of 
activity  in  the  south,  and  affected  their  fortunes  by 
bringing  them  in  contact  with  the  Germany  which 
had  just  disengaged  itself  from  the  wreck  of  the 
Karolingian  Empire. 

In  their  attack  on  the  south,  however,  the  Danes  Haraid 

__^___________ Blue -tooth. 

^  The  stories  of  Othere  and  Wulfstan,  in  Alfred's  "  Orosius,"  are 
the  first  authentic  accounts  of  this  eastern  Denmark,  a  name  which 
the  description  of  Othere  restricts  to  the  islands  and  lands  east  of 
the  Great  Belt,  and  thus  denies  as  yet  to  Jutland.  Wulfstan,  too, 
speaks  of  Denmark  as  a  well-known  kingdom  with  the  same  bounds. 
But  of  its  history  at  this  time  we  know  nothing,  save  from  some 
sagas  which  tell  of  a  king's  seat  at  Lethra. — Dahlmann,  i.  61.  The 
Prankish  chroniclers  are  busy  with  their  assailants  from  South  Jut- 
land ;  the  English  tell  of  the  Danes  who  reached  their  shores,  but 
say  nothing  of  their  mother-land.  Indeed,  the  strength  of  the  latter 
is  only  a  matter  of  inference  from  the  vigor  of  its  outer  attacks. 


^.g       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  were  roughly  beaten  back ;  for  Gorm,  pressing  in 
The  934  into  Friesland,  was  met  by  the  German  forces, 
conquest,  under  Henry  the  Fowler,  and  so  utterly  defeated 
988^16  ^^^^  ^^  submitted  to  pay  tribute  and  to  take  back 
—  the  mission  priests  whom  he  had  driven  from  the 
land.  Gorm's  life  closed  with  the  blow,  and  a  few 
years  after'  he  rested  with  his  wife  Thyra  under 
their  two  huge  mounds,  which  still  survive  in  the 
village  of  Jelling,  by  the  town  of  Weile.  But  if  his 
son,  Harald  Blue-tooth,  kept  peace  vvith  his  neigh- 
bor in  the  south,  it  was  that  he  found  fields  of  action 
as  tempting  and  less  dangerous  to  east  and  west  and 
north.  It  marks  the  range  of  the  Danish  activity, 
that  in  the  midst  of  the  tenth  century  one  of  Har- 
ald's  sons  was  setting  up  a  kingdom  in  Semland,  on 
the  Baltic,  while  another  son,  Eric,  was  taken  in  949 
for  king  by  the  Northumbrian  Danes  of  Britain. 
Eric's  rule  was  a  short  one,  and  he  fell,  unaided  by 
his  father,  though  the  Danish  fleets  were  now  often 
seen  in  the  British  Channel.  But  it  was  not  to 
Britain  or  to  the  British  Danelaw  that  Harald  Blue- 
tooth's  ambition  looked.  The  Danelaw  in  Frank- 
land,  the  Normandy  which  had  been  carved  by  Hrolf 
out  of  the  Karolingian  realm,  was  now  pressed  hard 
by  its  foes,  and  forced  to  appeal  for  aid  to  the 
mightiest  power  of  the  north.  In  his  earliest  years 
we  find  Harald  settled  by  William  Longsword  as 
an  ally  in  the  Cotentin ; '  in  944  he  was  again  called 
to  save  Normandy  from  Otto  the  Great ;  and  about 
963  he  once  more  came  to  Duke  Richard's  aid.    At 

^  Gorm  is  supposed  to  have  died  about  936. — Dahlmann,  Gesch. 
V.  Diinnemark,  i.  72.     Harald  Blaatand  was  born  at  latest  in  910. 
=  Dahlmann,  Gesch.  v.  Dannemark,  i.  74, 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


349 


this  moment  he  was  at  the  height  of  his  power ;  for  chap,  vm. 
two  years  before  the  divisions  of  the  Northmen  and      The 
his  own  unscrupulous  guile  had  opened  a  new  field  conquest, 
for  Danish  greed,  and  enabled  him  to  establish  an  gsglioie. 
over-lordship  over  Norway;'  and  with  his  triumph 
over  Otto  he  at  last  disclosed  the  ambitious  hopes 
that  had  drawn  him  so  often  to  Norman  soil.     Har- 
ald  looked  upon  Normandy  as  a  starting-point  for 
a  fresh  attack  of  the  Northmen  on  Frankland,  and 
called  on  the  young  duke  to  march  at  his  side.    But 
he  found  a  sudden  bar  to  his  project  in  the  political 
instinct  of  the  Normans  themselves.     Hate  them  as 
the  Franks  might,  it  was  to  the  Franks  that  their 
new  religion  and  civilization  irresistibly  drew  them ; 
and  their  refusal  forever  closed  to  the  Danes  all 
hope  of  a  dominion  in  Gaul. 

Thoucfh  foiled  in  the  west,  Harald  was  still  a  tiaraid 
mighty  power  m  Scandmavia  itself;  and  even  be- 
fore this  overthrow  of  his  Norman  hopes  he  had 
renewed  his  father's  attack  on  the  south,  where 
Otto  the  Great  had  planted  the  Saxon  duchy  as  a 
barrier  at  his  very  door.  Harald  was  tempted  by 
the  emperor's  long  absence  in  Italy  to  trouble  this 
Saxon  land ;  but  on  Otto's  return  in  965  he  overran 
South  Jutland,  drove  Harald  to  his  ships,  and  forced 
him  again  to  pay  tribute  and  to  submit  to  baptism." 
A  fresh  absence  of  Otto  led  to  a  renewal  of  the  war 
in  967,  and  in  974  it  broke  out  yet  more  fiercely  on 
the  emperor's  death ;  but  though  Harald  brought 
to  the  field  his  new  subjects  from  Norway,  under 
Jarl  Hakon,  a  decisive  victory  of  the  Germans  again 

'  For  date,  see  Dahlmann,  Gesch.  v.  Dannemark,  i.  78. 
""  Ibid.  81,  note. 


\co  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP. viii. forced  him  to  peace.  His  defeats  shook  his  power; 
Th^  Norway  seems  to  have  slipped  from  his  grasp  ;  and 
co^nTuert.  his  later  years  at  home  were  spent  in  warfare  with 
ggg— jg  his  rebel  son,  Swein.  Swein's  story  carries  us  at 
—  '  once  into  the  full  tide  of  northern  romance ;  we  are 
told  that  he  was  the  child  of  a  slave  mother,  who 
served  in  the  house  of  Palnatoki,  a  noble  of  Funen,' 
where  alone  the  boy  found  refuge  from  his  father's 
hate.  Here,  too,  Swein  learned  to  cling  to  the  old 
gods  of  his  people,  and  thus  furnished  a  centre  for 
the  growing  disaffection  of  the  eastern  parts  of 
the  kingdom,  where  heathendom  still  held  its  own. 
Since  his  last  fight  with  Otto,  Harald  had  resolute- 
ly embraced  Christianity ;  he  had  forsaken  the  old 
heathen  sanctuary  of  Lethra  to  build  a  castle  and 
church  for  himself  at  Roeskilde  hard  by,"  and  his 
home  in  his  later  years  seems  to  have  been  the 
Christianized  Jutland.  Thence  "  he  sent  a  message 
over  all  the  kingdom  that  all  people  should  be  bap- 
tized and  follow  the  true  faith ;  and  he  himself  fol- 
lowed the  message,  and  used  power  and  violence 
when  nothing  else  would  do."'  But  his  efforts 
roused  a  bitter  resistance.  It  was  on  the  shore  of 
Jutland,  ran  the  legend,  that  Harald  saw  a  great 
stone,  and,  longing  to  set  it  up  on  his  mother's 
mound,  harnessed  to  it  not  horses  but  men.  Then 
as  he  watched  it  move  he  asked  of  one  who  stood 
by,  "  Hast  thou  ever  seen  such  a  load  moved  by 
hands  of  men  ?"     "  Yes,"  said  the  stranger,  "  for  I 

*  This  seems  disproved  by  Otto's  having  him  baptized  with  Har- 
ald, as  heir  of  the  kingdom. 

*  Dahlmann,  Gesch.  v.  Dannemark,  i.  83. 

'  Saga  of  Olaf  Tryggvason,  Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  426. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  351 

come  from  a  place  where  thy  son  Swein  is  drawing  chap.  vm. 
all  Denmark  to  him.    See  now  which  is  the  greater     The 

1        1  ,„  Danish 

ioaa !  Conquest 

Harald  strove    to  meet   the  danger   by  driving  ggglioie. 
Swein  from  the  land ;  but  his  warriors  forsook  him,  ^  — 

jomsborg. 

and  in  a  final  battle  about  986  he  was  so  sorely 
wounded,  it  is  said,  by  an  arrow  from  Palnatoki's 
hand,  that  he  fled  from  his  realm  to  the  eastern  sea, 
and  died  at  Jomsborg,  a  stronghold  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Oder,  which  he  had  won  for  himself  in  the  days 
gone  by,  and  from  which  he  had  maintained  his 
mastery  of  the  Baltic'  Jomsborg,  if  we  may  trust 
its  story,"  soon  became  the  great  difficulty  of  Har- 
ald's  successor.  While  Swein '  was  opening  his 
reign  with  the  restoration  of  heathendom  and  a 
persecution  of  the  Christian  preachers,  Palnatoki  / 
and  the  fiercer  of  the  heathen  Danes,  resolved  to 
find  a  secure  refuge  from  the  new  religion  and  the 
civilization  it  brought  with  it,  sailed  to  the  Baltic, 
seized  Jomsborg,  and  founded  there  a  State  to 
which  no  man  might  belong  save  on  proof  of  cour- 
age, where  no  woman  might  enter  within  the  walls, 
and  where  all  booty  was  in  common.  It  may  have 
been  that  Palnatoki  fled  thither  because  his  deadly 
arrow,  though   it  set  Swein  on  the  throne,  raised 

*  See  the  story  in  the  "  Encomium  Emmae,"  Langebek,  ii.  474. 
Olaf  Tryggvason's  Saga  (Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  403)  makes  the  strife 
begin  in  Swein's  demand  of  half  the  kingdom. 

^  For  the  worth  of  the  Jomsviking  Saga,  see  Dahlmann,  Gesch. 
V.  Dannemark,  i.  87,  88,  note. 

'  Suan,  Sweno,  Suen  (later  written  "  Swend,"  but  never  pro- 
nounced so),  Adam  of  Bremen's  "  Svein,"  and  the  English  "  Swe- 
gen"  (where  the  "g"  is  soft  like  a  "y").  are  all  different  ways  of 
spelling  the  same  sound.  See  Dahlmann,  Gesch.  v.  Dannemark, 
i.  88.  note. 


^C2  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VIII. inevitably   the   blood-feud   between   him    and   the 

The     young  king ;   but   in    any  case   the   conversion  of 

conquest.  Jomsborg  from   a   base    of    Danish    power  in  the 

988^16  Baltic  into  an  independent  State  was  sufficient  to 

—  call  Swein  to  its  attack. 
Swan  a7id  IH-luck,  howcvcr,  bcsct  him:  twice,  it  is  said,  he 
^'borg^!'  was  taken  by  the  Jomsborgers  and  freed  for  gold;' 
but  peace  was  at  last  brought  about,  and  a  saga" 
tells  us  how  Swein's  guile  and  ambition  mingled 
in  the  burial -feast  for  his  father  Harald.  "King 
Swein  made  a  great  feast,  to  which  he  invited  all 
the  chiefs  in  his  dominions,  for  he  willed  to  give 
the  succession -feast  or  heirship -ale  after  his  father 
Harald.  A  little  time  before.  Strut  Harald  had  died 
in  Scania,  and  Vesete  in  Bornholm,  father  to  Bue 
the  Thick  and  to  Sigurd.  So  King  Swein  sent 
word  to  the  Jomsborg  Wikings  that  Earl  Sigwald 
and  Bue  and  their  brothers  should  come  to  him, 
and  drink  the  funeral  -  ale  for  their  father  in  the 
same  feast  the  king  was  giving.  The  Jomsborg 
Wikings  came  to  the  feast  with  their  bravest  men, 
eleven  ships  of  them  from  Wendland  and  twenty 
ships  from  Scania.  Great  was  the  multitude  of 
people  assembled.  The  first  day  of  the  feast,  before 
King  Swein  went  up  into  his  father's  high  seat,  he 
drank  the  bowl  to  his  father's  memory,  and  made 

^  The  contemporary  evidence  of  Thietmar  of  Merseburg  shows 
that  he  was  at  least  once  "taken  by  the  Northmen,"  and  that  the 
charge  of  slave-blood  was  one  of  his  great  difficulties. — Dahlmann, 
Gesch.  V.  Dannemark,  i.  89,  note.  The  Jomsborg  Saga,  followed  by 
that  of  Olaf  Tryggvason,  makes  the  price  of  his  release  a  marriage 
with  the  Wendish  King  Burislaf's  daughter,  Gunhild,  who  became 
the  mother  of  Cnut. 

'  Laing,  Sea  Kings  of  Norway,  i.  404. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^^ 

the   solemn   vow  that  before    three   winters   were  chap. vm. 
passed  he  would  go  over  with  his  army  to  England,     The 
and  either  kill  King  ^thelred  or  drive  him  out  of  conquest 
the  country.     This  heirship -bowl  all  who  were  at  ggg^^^g^ 
the  feast  drank.     Thereafter,  for  the  chiefs  of  the     — 
Jomsborg  Wikings,  was  filled  and  drunk  the  largest 
horn  to  be  found,  and  of  the  strongest  drink.    When 
that  bowl  was  emptied  all  men  drank  Christ's  health, 
and  again  the  fullest   measure   and   the  strongest 
drink  were  handed  to  the  Jomsborg  Wikings.     The 
third  bowl  was  to  the  memory  of  St.  Michael,  which 
was  drunk  by  all.    Thereafter,  Earl  Sigwald  emptied 
a  remembrance-bowl  to  his  father's  honor,  and  made 
the  solemn  vow  that  before  three  winters  came  to 
an  end  he  would  go  to  Norway,  and  either  kill  Jarl 
Hakon  or  drive  him  out  of  the  country."    Whether 
Hakon  slew  the  Jomsborgers  or  the  Jomsborgers 
Hakon,  Swein  had  a  foe  the  less ;  and  the  vow  of 
Jarl  Sigwald  cleared  the  way  for  the  carrying  out  of 
the  vow  of  the  Danish  king  himself. 

The  vow,  however,  was  to  be  long  in  fulfilment ;  ^'^'jn  the 
for  hardly  had  the  Jomsborgers  steered  to  their  '  "^^' 
doom  in  the  north,  when  Eric  of  Sweden,  whose 
throne  had  been  threatened  both  by  Harald  and 
Swein,  seized  the  moment  of  exhaustion  to  break 
Denmark's  power  in  the  Eastern  Sea.  Allying 
himself  with  the  Poles  and  their  duke,  Mieczyslav, 
his  success  was  even  greater  than  his  aim,  for  after 
fierce  sea- fighting  he  succeeded  in  driving  Swein 
not  only  from  the  Baltic  but  from  Denmark  itself; 
so  complete,  indeed,  was  Swein's  overthrow,  that 
fourteen  years  had  to  pass  before  he  could  return 
to  the  land.     He  fell  back  on  the  Wiking  life  of 

23 


^tA  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VIII. his  earlier  youth;  and  after  a  fruitless  effort  to 
Th^  wrest  Norway  from  Jarl  Hakon,  who  now  ruled 
cfnTuest.  there  in  his  own  name,  he  steered  for  the  Irish 
988^16.  Channel.  It  was  a  time  when  the  seas  were  again 
—  thronged  with  northern  freebooters.  The  union  of 
the  kingdoms,  the  stern  rule  of  Harald  and  Jarl 
Hakon,  the  wars  of  vthe  Danes  with  Norway,  and 
of  Sweden  with  the  Danes,  above  all  the  strife  of 
religions,  had  roused  afresh  the  spirit  of  adventure 
and  wandering.  The  rovers  who  had  been  absorbed 
for  a  while  by  Harald's  enterprises  in  Frankland 
and  Saxon- land  found  no  work  in  northern  w^aters 
during  the  peace  that  followed  Swein's  expulsion; 
and  Wiking  fleets,  as  of  old,  appeared  off  the  Eng- 
lish coasts.  Swein  himself  had  probably  taken  part, 
as  a  youth,  in  the  piratical  attacks  which  troubled 
the  coasts  of  Wessex  and  Kent  from  980  to  982 ; 
and  though  these  were  interrupted,  it  may  be  by 
the  strife  between  Harald  and  Swein,  the  renewal 
of  the  raids  in  988 '  might  have  warned  England 
of  the  danger  that  was  gathering  in  the  north. 
Three  years  later,  indeed,  in  991,  came  the  first 
burst  of  the  storm.''  A  body  of  Norwegian  Wikings 
landed  on  the  eastern  coasts,  and  after  plundering 
Ipswich  marched  southward  upon  Essex."  At  Mal- 
don  it  met  the  ealdorman  Byrhtnoth,  who  hastened 
to  save  the  tow^n.  For  a  while  the  tide  parted  the 
hosts,  but  as  it  fell  the  pirates  plunged  through  the 
ford,  and  threw  themselves  on  the  shield-wall  of  the 
Englishmen.  The  wall  was  at  last  broken;  the 
war -band  of  Byrhtnoth  was  slain  around  its  lord; 

'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  988.  «  Ibid.  991.  '  Ibid. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 


355 


and  the  broken  fragments  of  his  force  bore  off  his  chap,  vm. 
body  from  the  field.  The 

The  defeat  presaged  ill  for  the  resistance  which  CMTquest. 
England  under  its  ealdormen  was  to  offer  to  the  gasZioie. 
Dane.'     But   whatever   strensfth  the    srreat  ealdor-  ^77  ^ 
manries  might  have  possessed  for  the  conflict  was 
broken  at  this  moment  by  the  king,     ^thelred  had 
now  reached  manhood;  he  was,  indeed,  already  fa- 
ther of  two  boys,  the  younger  of  whom  was  to  be 
known  as  Eadmund  Ironside.     He  was  handsome, 
and  pleasant  of  address,  and  though  he  was  taunted 
by  his  opponents  with  having  the  temper  of  a  monk 
rather  than  of  a  warrior,  there  were  none  who  de- 
nied his  capacity  or  activity."     But  behind,  and  ab- 

^  The  materials  for  the  history  of  this  time  are  very  scanty,  As 
to  the  chronicles,  we  really  have  only  one — that  of  Worcester — 
which  is  preserved  to  us  in  the  later  compilation  made  at  Peter- 
borough. Fortunately  this  chronicle  is  full  and  vigorous  through- 
out, and  in  some  places,  as  in  1007,  it  is  clearly  the  work  of  a  con- 
temporary. It  was  not  till  1043  that  Abingdon  borrowed  a  copy  of 
this  and  used  it  as  a  base  for  the  chronicle  then  being  compiled  at 
Abingdon,  which  till  1043  differs  little  from  the  Worcester  account. 
This  chronicle,  with  the  charters  and  laws,  are  the  only  authorities 
of  contemporary  and  primary  value  as  yet.  Two  hundred  years 
later  came  the  twelfth-century  translators  and  compilers,  Florence 
of  Worcester,  William  of  Malmesbury,  Henry  of  Huntingdon,  dif- 
fering much  in  temper  from  one  another,  but  equally  removed  in 
time  from  the  events  they  narrate,  and  equally  swayed  by  the  patri- 
otic revival  of  their  day.  It  is  true  of  all — as  Mr.  Freeman  says  of 
the  two  last — that  though  they  occasionally  supply  additional  de- 
tails, "  it  is  dangerous  to  trust  them  except  when  they  show  signs 
of  following  authorities  which  are  now  lost"  (Norm.  Conq.  i.  258, 
note).  Beyond  these  materials  we  have  only  the  northern  sagas, 
which  are  yet  later  and  more  fabulous  ;  nor  is  there  any  contempo- 
rary Norman  authority  till  we  reach  the  "  Encomium  Emmae." 

^  William  of  Malmesbury  (Gest.  Reg.  [Hardy],  i.  268)  wonders, "Cur 
homo  ut  a  majoribus  nos  accepimus  neque  multum  fatuus  neque 
nimis  ignavus  in  tarn  tristi  pallore  tot  calamitatum  vitam  con- 
sumpserit."    The  cause  he  sees  for  this  is,  "  Ducum  defectionem  ex 


356  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAivviii.  sorbing  all,  was  a  haughty  pride  in  his  own  kingship. 
The  The  imperial  titles,  which  had  been  but  sparsely 
conquest,  used  by  his  predecessors,  are  employed  profusely  in 
988lioi6.  ^^^  charters ;  nor  was  his  faith  in  these  lofty  preten- 
—  sions  ever  shaken,  even  at  the  time  of  his  greatest 
misfortunes.  His  attitude  was  thus  one  of  stubborn 
opposition  throughout  his  reign  to  the  efforts  of 
the  great  ealdormen  to  control  the  Crown ;  it  was, 
in  fact,  his  revolt  from  this  control,  and  his  persist- 
ence in  setting  aside  the  rede  or  counsel  in  which 
it  embodied  itself,  that  earned  him  the  title  of  "  Un- 
raedig,"  or  the  counsel-lacking  king,  which  a  later 
blunder  changed  into  the  title  of  the  Unready. 
Unready,  shiftless,  without  resource,  i^thelred  never 
was.  His  difficulties,  indeed,  sprang  in  no  small 
degree  from  the  quickness  and  ingenuity  with  which 
he  met  one  danger  by  measures  that  created  an- 
other. A  man  of  expedients  rather  than  wisdom,  he 
devised  administrative  and  financial  plans  which, 
though  they  were  to  serve  as  moulds  for  our  later 
policy,  he  had  himself  neither  the  strength  nor  the 
patience  to  carry  out  to  any  profitable  issue.  He 
was  capable  of  brave  fighting  when  driven  hard. 
But  impulsive,  fitful  in  temper,  changeful,  and  ready 
to  fling  away  the  fruits  of  one  course  of  policy  by 
sudden  transition  to  another,  he  was  filled  with  a 
restless  energy  which  never  ceased  to  dash  itself 
against  the  forces  round  it.  He  sought  safety  in 
skilful  negotiations  with  the  foreigner  when  it  was 
,  only  to  be  attained  by  a  firm  and  consistent  govern- 

ment at  home.     It  was  with  the  same  quick  but 

superbia  regis  prodeuntem,"  and  this  statement  is  no  doubt  mainly 
true. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  357 

shallow  cleverness  that  he  seized  this  moment  ofcHAP^m. 
national  peril  to  open  his  real  reign  by  a  blow  at  the     The 
great  houses  that  had  till  now  held  him  down/  conquest 

The  death  of  Brihtnoth,  with  that  of  ^thelwine  gggli^ie, 
in  the  following  year,"  no   sooner  left  ^thelred's^^.~^. 
hands   free   than   change    followed   change.      The 
Northumbrian  earldom  was  made  less  formidable 
by  its  division  between  ^^Ifhelm  and  Waltheof,  the 

*  The  charters  enable  us  to  follow  the  course  of  the  great  ealdor- 
men  under  Eadward  the  Martyr.  .^Ifhere  of  Mercia,  JEthelwine  of 
East  Anglia,  and  Brihtnoth  of  Essex  still  sign  first  as  before ;  but 
-^thelmaer  becomes  "  dux,"  and  in  981  an  "  Eadwine  dux"  is  added. 
We  know  from  the  chronicle  in  982  that  ^thelmaer  was  ealdorman 
in  Hampshire  (i.  e.  of  the  "  Wentanienses  provinciae  ")  and  Eadwine 
in  Sussex.  Both  these  died  in  982  ;  but  -^thelweard,  who  had  been 
a  minister  under  Eadgar,  and  was  also  made  dux  by  Eadward  (Cod. 
Dip.  611),  that  is,  Ealdorman  of  the  Western  Provinces  (cf.  Cod. 
Dip.  698),  was  destined  to  larger  and  higher  fortunes.  In  a  charter 
assigned  to  983,  but  which,  if  so,  must  be  early  in  that  year,  we  find 
two  new  names,  Thored  and  ^Elfric,  among  the  duces  (Cod.  Dip. 
636),  ^Ifric  having  taken  the  place  of  the  dead  .^thelmaer  as  "  dux 
Wentaniensium  Provinciarum  "  (cf.  Cod.  Dip.  698  and  642).  We 
see,  however,  another  ^Ifric  signing  among  the  "  ministri,"  who 
must  have  been  son  of  the  great  Ealdorman  of  the  Mercians ;  for  on 
JEUhere's  death  in  the  same  year,  983,  his  name  disappears  from 
the  charters,  and  we  find  two  ^Ifrics  signing  as  duces,  one  no 
doubt  the  Ealdorman  of  Central  Wessex,  the  other  ^Ifhere's  suc- 
cessor in  his  ealdormanry.  ^thelwine,  however,  succeeds  to  ^If- 
here's  position  at  the  head  of  the  duces ;  while  the  Mercian  ^Ifric 
signs  after  all  but  Thored  (Cod.  Dip.  1279).  Both  -^Ifrics  still  sign 
in  984 ;  but  in  985  one  of  them  disappears  from  the  charters  (Cod. 
Dip.  1283),  and  the  chronicle  tells  us  that  the  Mercian  ealdorman 
was  banished  in  that  year.  ^Ifric  of  Hampshire,  on  the  other  hand, 
goes  on  signing  with  ^thelwine,  Brihtnoth,  and  ^thelweard 
through  the  next  four  years ;  and  when  Brihtnoth  dies  in  991  and 
^thelwine  in  992,  we  find  the  two  West-Saxon  ealdormen,  ^thel- 
weard  and  JEUric,  signing  at  the  head  of  the  duces  in  994  (Cod. 
Dip.  687).  With  them  are  Leofwine,  Ealdorman  of  the  Hwiccas, 
Leofsige,  Ealdorman  of  the  "  East  Saxons "  (Cod.  Dip.  698),  and 
^Ifhelm  "  of  the  Northumbrian  provinces,"  with  a  certain  North- 
man. ^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  992. 


2^8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^iii.  one  earl  of  Deira,  the  other  of  Bernicia,  to  whose 
The     older  stock  he  belonged.'     The  Mercian  ealdormen 

c^nqiSt  had  ceased  with  the  exile  of  yElfric  in  985,  and  in 

988^16.  ^^i^  y^^^  ^^  latest  the  king  set  about  breaking  up 
—  this  vast  power  by  creating  an  ealdorman  of  the 
Hwiccas  in  Leofwine."  ^thelred  next  secured  the 
dependence  of  Essex  by  the  appointment  of  Leof- 
sige  as  its  ealdorman.'  Leofsige,  as  the  king  him- 
self tells  us,  was  a  new  thegn  of  the  royal  court,  who 
owed  his  elevation  to  the  royal  favor.'  i^thelred's 
attitude  was  naturally  one  of  standing  opposition  to 
the  great  ealdormen  who  had  overawed  the  Crown, 
and  Leofsige  was  the  first  of  the  new  series  of  royal 
favorites,  of  ministers  trained  in  the  royal  court, 
through  whom  the  king  sought  to  counteract  the 
pressure  of  the  great  nobles.  The  favorites  whom 
he  chose,  indeed,  so  far  as  we  can  trace  them,  seem 
by  their  ability  to  have  justified  the  king's  choice. 
It  was  no  doubt  under  ^thelreds  own  guidance 
that  Leofsige,  with  the  West  -  Saxon  ealdormen, 
^thelweard  and  ^Ifric,  took  from  this  time  the 
main  part  in  the  conduct  of  affairs.  But  the  revo- 
lution had  only  helped  to  shatter  what  force  re- 
mained of  national  resistance,  and  the  first  act  of 
these  counsellors  shows  their  sense  of  the  weakness 
of  the  realm. 

^"■uitief'  ^^^y  ^^  *h^  difficulties  which  ^^thelred  had  to 
face  were  not  of  his  own  making.     The  long  minor- 

/  They  first  sign  in  994. — Cod.  Dip.  687. 

"  His  first  signature  is  in  994. — Cod.  Dip.  687.  For  his  ealdor- 
manry  see  Cod.  Dip.  698. 

^  Leofsige  signs  as  "  dux  Orientalium  vSaxonum." — Cod.  Dip.  698. 

*  "  Quern  de  satrapis  nomine  tuli  ad  celsioris  apicem  dignitatis 
dignum  duxi  promoveri  ducem  constituendo." — Cod.  Dip.  719. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^59 

ity,  the  rule  of  ^^thelwine,  had  fatally  weakened  his  chap.vih. 
cause  before  he  really  stood  out  as  king.  It  must  The 
have  been  during  these  years  that  Eadgar's  fleet  dis-  conquest, 
appeared ;  and  it  was  the  loss  of  the  rule  of  the  seas  gggli^ie. 
which  told  so  hardly  against  England  afterwards.  — 
Not  only  was  a  storm  gathering  in  the  east,  but 
dangers  were  thickening  to  the  south  and  to  the 
west.  The  descents  of  Danish  marauders  and  fleets 
ought  to  have  warned  England  to  gird  itself  to  meet 
a  far  greater  peril ;  they  were  but  advance-guards, 
but  signs  of  the  new  restlessness  which  was  gather- 
ing hosts  such  as  England  had  never  seen  for  the 
expeditioh  under  Swein  and  Olaf,  three  years  later. 
To  the  southward  lay  the  land  of  the  Normans,  now 
to  play  a  part  in  English  history  which  was  never  to 
cease  till  the  Norman  duke  was  hailed  as  English 
king.  Westward  a  new  power  was  growing  up  in 
Wales.  Utterly  unable  to  unite  into  a  permanent 
State,  the  Welsh  drew  together  from  time  to  time 
under  chieftains  who  won  a  brief  supremacy;  and 
in  these  years  of  peace  Meredydd,  the  son  of  Owen, 
had  succeeded  in  making  himself  master  of  nearly 
the  whole  of  what  is  now  called  Wales.  Silently 
the  clouds  drew  together.  In  the  very  year  of  the 
victory  of  the  Norwegians  in  East  Anglia,  Meredydd 
was  not  only  at  war  with  the  English,  but  had  formed 
an  alliance  with  the  Northmen ;  and  that  this  union 
was  a  real  danger  we  see  from  the  treaty  of  subsidy 
which  was  now  negotiated  with  the  enemy  by  the 
king's  counsellors. 

Already,  indeed,  their  hope  lay  less  in  any  resist-  The  two 

iTCcities, 

ance  on  the  part   of   England   itself   than  in    the 
divisions  of  its  foes.     The  Norwegian  force  which 


^56       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.  had  slain  Brihtnoth  was  still  on  English  soil,  but 
Th^  instead  of  attacking  it  the  king's  advisers  found  a 
cJliTuest.  sum  equal  to  a  fourth  of  the  annual  revenues  of 
988^16  ^^^  €rown,  ten  thousand  pounds,  to  buy  off  its 
■ —  hostility/  The  treaty  was  not  one  of  withdrawal ; 
it  was  a  buying  of  frith.  The  Norwegians  swore  to 
help  i^thelred  against  any  foes  who  might  attack 
England ;  neither  party  was  to  receive  the  enemies 
of  the  other.'  The  other  provisions  of  the  peace 
are  inconsistent  with  any  notion  of  the  fleet  sailing 
away.  It  may,  in  fact,  have  been  the  policy  of 
Sigeric  and  the  two  ealdormen  to  hold  the  Nor- 
wegian force  to  aid  against  Swein's  expected  de- 
scent, a  policy  of  division  which  was  continued  by 
Bishop  ^Ifheah  of  Winchester  when  the  descent 
actually  came  three  years  later.  Their  next  step 
was  to  detach  Normandy  from  their  Scandinavian 
assailants.  Trouble  had  for  some  time  been  grow- 
'  ing  up  between  the  Norman  and  the  English  courts, 
perhaps  owing  to  the  aid  given  by  Normans  to  the 
earlier  predatory  descents  on  the  English  coasts, 
and  if  we  trust  the  one  account  we  have  of  these 
transactions,  war  was  only  averted  by  the  mediation 
of  the  Pope.  However  this  may  be,  an  English 
embassy  appeared  at  Rouen  and  concluded  a  treaty 
with  Duke  Richard,  the  first  recorded  diplomatic 
transaction  between  the  two  powers,  on  terms  that 


*  The  treaty  of  subsidy  was  negotiated  by  Archbishop  Sigeric, 
and  the  ealdormen,  ^Ethelweard  of  the  Western  Provinces  and 
^Ifric  of  Central  Wessex.  See  Thorpe's  Anc.  Laws  and  Institutes, 
i.  284. 

^  "  And  that  neither  they  nor  we  harbor  the  other's  Wealh,  nor 
the  other's  thief,  nor  the  other's  foe." — Ibid.  289. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^51 

neither  yEthelred  nor  the  duke  should  receive  the charvih. 
other's  foes.'  The 

Had  the  two  treaties  been  backed  by  energetic  conquest, 
measures  of  resistance  within  the  realm  itself,  they  gsslioie. 
would  have  rendered  the  enterprise  which  Swein  q~T  , 
was  now  plotting  an  all  but  hopeless  one ;  for  of  war. 
with  the  Norman  ports  closed  against  him,  and  the 
Norwegian  host  hanging  on  his  flank,  the  Danish 
king  could  hardly  have  faced  a  united  England. 
But  it  was  just  this  national  union  that  every  day 
made  more  impossible.  The  pirate  force  still  clung 
to  the  English  coast;  and  in  992  /Ethelred  gathered 
a  fleet  at  London  of  ships  furnished  by  that  city 
and  East  Anglia,  while  the  fyrd,  drawn  probably 
mainly  from  Hampshire  and  the  surrounding  shires, 
was  intrusted  to  the  leading  of  Ealdorman  -^Ifric  of 
Central  Wessex  and  Earl  Thored.  The  joint  force 
was  to  "betrap"  the  Norwegians;  the  fyrd,  as  we 
may  suppose,  holding  them  in  play  on  land  till  the 
fleet  had  cut  off  their  retreat  by  sea.  The  plan, 
however,  was  foiled  by  the  English  leader.  ^^Ifric 
had  now  been  ealdorman  for  nearly  ten  years,  and 
since  the  deaths  of  Byrhtnoth  and  ^thelwine  he 
had  stood  second  in  rank  and  importance  only  to 

*  This  Norman  "  frith"  rests  wholly  on  the  authority  of  William 
of  Malmesbury  (Gest.  Reg.  [HardyJ,  i.  270).  Mr.  Freeman  accepts 
it  as  true.  This  treaty  implies  that  both  sides  had  already  received 
the  foes  of  the  other.  The  Northmen  were  doubtless  the  foes  of 
^thelred,  but  who  were  Richard's  ?  It  is  possible  that  Dunstan's 
connection  with  Flanders,  and  his  policy  of  drawing  England  closer 
to  it — a  step  which  so  greatly  influenced  the  after-relations  of  Eng- 
land— was  meant  by  him  as  a  provision  against  Normandy,  and  so 
was  understood  by  the  Norman  dukes.  The  treaties  with  the  Nor- 
wegians and  with  Normandy  were  no  doubt  accompanied  by  some 
arrangement  with  Wales. 


Danish 
;;onques1 

988-1016. 


^52  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  viii.  his  fellow  West-Saxon  ealdorman,  ^^thelweard  ;  nor 
Th^     does  the  story  of  the  chronicle  give  any  grounds 

conquest,  for  his  sudden  desertion/  It  may  be  that  he  felt 
^thelred's  plans  to  be  fatal  to  his  order,  or  that 
he  distrusted  the  king's  personal  hostility;  for  his 
flight,  unaccompanied  by  his  followers,  looks  rather 
like  an  act  of  sudden  panic  than  of  deliberate 
treachery;  but  whatever  were  the  causes  of  his 
action,  on  the  night  before  the  execution  of  the 
joint  scheme  he  stole  to  the  pirates'  camp,  and  his 
warning  enabled  them  to  escape  after  an  engage- 
ment with  the  English  fleet."     ^^Ifric's   ship  was 

^  It  is  possible  that  the  danger  by  which  Wessex  alone  was  im- 
mediately threatened  developed  what  may  have  been  a  purely 
West-Saxon  policy  of  subsidizing  the  Norwegian  fleet— a  policy 
which  was  represented  by  the  three  rulers  of  Southern  Britain,  the 
Archbishop,  yElfric,  and  ^thelweard.  Their  course  of  action  had 
been  formally  accepted  by  the  nation  in  the  treaty  of  the  preceding 
year ;  but  may  we  not  see  in  the  plan  now  proposed  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Norwegians  the  triumph  of  a  party  in  the  king's  council 
hostile  to  the  policy  of  the  southern  ealdormen,  and  to  any  alliance 
with  the  enemy  ?  The  betrayal  of  the  Norwegians  seems  to  have 
been,  in  fact,  a  distinct  breach  of  treaty  on  the  part  of  England,  an 
attempted  act  of  treachery  such  as  was  carried  out  ten  years  later 
on  St.  Brice's  Day,  possibly  by  the  advice  of  the  same  party  among 
the  Witan.  Under  these  circumstances  .^Ifric's  conduct  may  have 
another  explanation  than  that  of  deliberate  treason.  His  province 
was  in  the  utmost  danger ;  he  had  been  responsible  for  the  policy 
hitherto  pursued ;  and  the  sense  of  the  peril  of  so  rash  and  false  a 
course  as  that  now  adopted  may  have  urged  him  to  give  warning 
to  the  Norwegians  so  as  to  avert  the  catastrophe.  This  explanation 
of  his  conduct  would  seem  to  agree  with  the  after-course  of  the 
story,  with  ^Ifric's  later  return  to  the  first  place  among  the  ealdor- 
men, with  the  fact  that  his  place  in  Hampshire  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  filled  up  during  his  absence,  and  that  Bishop  ^Elfheah.of 
Winchester,  apparently  acted  instead  of  him  two  years  later  in  face 
of  the  threatened  attack  of  994,  and  carried  out,  in  union  with  Eal- 
dorman .^thelweard,  exactly  the  same  policy. — (A.  S.  G.) 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Abingdon),  a.  992. 


THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND.  363 

captured  in  the  fight,  but  the  ealdorman  may  havecHARvm. 
escaped  and  accompanied  the  Northmen  when,  in     The 
993,  their  fleet  sailed  along  the  coast,  ravaged  at  conquest, 
the  mouth  of  the  Humber,  and  sacked  Bamborough.  ggslioie. 
As  ^thelred  chose  this  moment  for  ordering  his  son 
i^lfgar  to  be  blinded,  it  may  be  in  punishment  for 
his  father's  treason/ 

The  Norwegian  fleet,  however,  was  only  the  ^^'^I'/nlm. 
vance-guard  of  the  greater  host  which  was  gathering 
in  the  Irish  Channel.  The  Wikings  mustered  not 
only  round  Swein,  but  round  Olaf  Tryggvason,  a 
claimant  to  the  throne  of  Norway,  though  driven,  as 
yet  like  Swein  himself,  to  find  a  kingdom  on  the 
seas.  Olaf  had  been  long  in  the  western  waters; 
his  saga  makes  him  harry  the  coasts  of  Scotland, 
fight  in  Man  and  the  Hebrides,  and  plunder  along 
either  coast  of  the  Irish  Channel,"  before  his  junc- 
tion with  Swein ;  and  their  joint  force  must  have 
drawn  to  it  all  the  rovers  of  the  seas.'     The  prep- 

^  Eng.  Chron.  (Abingdon),  a.  993. 

^  Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  396-398.  According  to  the  saga,  "  When 
Olaf  left  the  west,  intending  to  sail  to  England,  he  came  to  the  Scilly 
Isles,  lying  westward  from  England  in  the  ocean.  .  .  .  While  he  lay 
in  the  Scilly  Isles  he  heard  of  a  seer  or  fortune-teller  on  the  islands 
who  could  tell  beforehand  things  not  yet  done."  Having  tried  this 
man's  skill,  "  Olaf  perceived  he  was  a  true  fortune-teller,  and  had 
the  gift  of  prophecy.  He  went  once  more  to  the  hermit  and  asked 
how  he  came  to  have  such  wisdom.  The  hermit  replied  that  the 
Christian's  God  Himself  let  him  know  all  that  he  desired  ;  and  he 
brought  before  Olaf  many  great  proofs  of  the  power  of  the  Al- 
mighty. Olaf  agreed  to  let  himself  be  baptized,  and  he  and  all  his 
followers  were  baptized  forthwith.  He  remained  here  a  long  time, 
took  the  true  faith,  and  got  with  him  priests  and  other  learned 
men."— (A.  S.  G.) 

'  The  sense  of  danger  was  no  doubt  quickened  by  a  conscious- 
ness of  intrigue  at  home,  for  there  were  certainly  tinglish  invita- 
tions addressed  to  Swein.     See  Cod.  Dip.  704,  where  ^^theric,  an 


^64       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiARviir.  arations  for  this  alliance  and  joint  enterprise  must 
The  have  occupied  a  considerable  time,  and  it  is  no 
c^nTuert.  doubt  in  the  anticipation  of  this  great  blow  that 
988^16.  ^^  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^  secret  of  English  policy  in  the 
—  years  which  preceded  its  actual  delivery,  and  espe- 
cially the  secret  of  the  treaty  of  subsidy  which  was 
concluded  by  ^Ifric  and  Sigeric  with  the  Norman 
duke.  In  September,  994,  King  Olaf  and  King 
Swein,  with  a  joint  fleet  of  nearly  a  hundred  ships, 
entered  the  Thames  unopposed.  It  was  significant 
of  the  new  station  which  London  was  from  this 
time  to  occupy  in  our  history  that  their  first  anchor- 
age on  Lady-day  was  off  its  walls  ;  and  that  though 
they  at  once  attacked  the  city,  they  were  beaten 
back  by  the  stout  fighting  of  the  burghers,  and 
forced  at  last  to  sail  away,  harrying,  burning,  and 
man-slaying  along  the  southern  coast'  At  South- 
ampton they  found  at  last  an  entry  into  the  land, 
and  taking  horse  there  the  host  rode  for  a  while 
without  opposition,  till  their  progress  was  checked 
by  the  appearance  of  ^thelred  with  an  army  at 
Andover.  It  seemed  as  if  the  fortune  of  England 
was  to  be  settled  by  the  sword;  but  the  policy  of 
the  young  king  and  of  his  advisers.  Bishop  ^Ifheah, 
of  Winchester,  and  Ealdorman  ^thelweard,"  of  west- 
ern Wessex,  was  one  of  diplomacy  rather  than  of 
arms.  Their  secret  hope  was  still  to  break  the 
storm  by  dividing  Northman  from  Northman,  and 

East  Saxon,  is  charged  with  having  promised  to  support  Swein  on 
his  arrival.  • 

*  Eng.  Chron.  a.  994.  "  They  there  bore  more  harm  and  evil  than 
they  ever  bethought  them  any  burghmen  should  do." 

^  ^thelweard  always  signs  first  among  the  duces  after  .^thel- 
wine's  death.     See  Cod.  Dip.  698. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       365 

with  this  view  a  truce  was  arranged  by  which  the  chap,  vm. 
army  of  the  two  kings,  on  payment  of  sixteen  thou-     The 
sand  pounds  of  gold,  and  a  promise  of  suppHes  from  conquest, 
all  Wessex,  took  up  its  winter- quarters  at  South- gggl^ig^ 
ampton.     ^thelred's  hopes  were  realized,  however,     — 
rather  by  his  good-luck  than  by  his  diplomacy;  for 
during  the  winter's  rest  news  came  from  Norway 
of  the  growing  unpopularity  of  Jarl  Hakon,  and  of 
the  cry  of  its  people  for  a  king  of  Harald  Fair-hair's 
stock.'     Olaf  became  eager  to  end  his  work  in  Eng- 
land and  to  set  sail  for  the  north.     It  was  therefore 
with  little  difficulty  that  Bishop  ^Ifheah  and  Ealdor- 
man  ^thelweard,  aided  by  the  difference  of  religion 
between  the  two  kings — for  Olaf  was  now  a  Chris- 
tian and  Swein  a  heathen — managed  to  break  their 
league,  and  to  bring  the  Norwegian  leader  to  an  in- 
terview with  i^thelred  at  Andover."     In  return  for 
the  king's  gifts,  Olaf  pledged  himself  to  withdraw 
from  England  and  return  to  it  no  more,  and  his  re- 
treat, in  the  summer  of  995,  forced  Swein  also  to 
withdraw. 

The  two  years  that  followed  this  withdrawal  were  ^^(^^"ess 
spent  in  a  quiet  which  might  have  been  used  to  EngUsU 
build  up  an  efficient  system  of  national  defence.'   '^•^^"^'^' 

*  Olaf  Tryggvason's  Saga,  Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  418. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  994. 

'  In  the  present  period  William  of  Malmesbury  and  Florence  of 
Worcester  have  given  the  tone  to  the  general  accounts  of  modern 
writers.  Both  have  done  much  to  confuse  the  annals  of  the  time, 
especially  Florence.  His  work,  as  far  as  994,  seems  to  be  a  literal 
rendering  of  the  first  Worcester  (or  Peterborough)  Chronicle, 
(though  probably  taken  from  the  copy  preserved  in  a  second  Wor- 
cester Chronicle,  as  we  may  see  from  the  entry  at  1004),  with  occa- 
sional ecclesiastical  insertions  from  a  Ramsey  Chronicle  and  other 
sources,  and  the  usual  rhetorical  amplifications  of  the  time.    After 


^56       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.  But  nothing  was  done.     The  king's  power,  indeed, 
m     must  have  been  shaken  by  the  last  year's  events, 
c?nquSt.  for  we  not  only  find  ^Ifric  again  in  England,  but 
988^16.  replaced  in  his  old  dignity  as  Ealdorman   of  the 
—     Central   Provinces,  and  even  in  his   second  place 
among  the  royal  counsellors/    We  know  nothing  of 
the  circumstances  of  his  return ;   but  the  fact  itself 
shows  that  the  royal  power,  after  its  short  outburst 
of  vigor,  was  again  ebbing  before  the  force  of  the 
great  nobles.     Its  weakness  told  on  the  state  of  the 
realm.     In  997  a  band  of  pirates,"  who  may  have 
been  Ostmen  from  Ireland,  appeared  in  the  mouths 
of  the  Severn  and  the  Tamar,  harried  Cornwall  with- 
out  opposition,  and  advancing   eastward   the  year 
after,  carried  their  raids  over  Dorset,  and  finally 
took  up  their  winter-quarters  in  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
where  they  levied  supplies  from  the  coasts  of  Hamp- 
shire and  Sussex."     In  999  they  pushed  still  farther 

this  point  various  noteworthy  insertions  occur  in  his  work  which 
are  without  foundation  in,  or  even  in  opposition  to,  the  statements 
of  the  Chronicle,  and  especially  in  the  account  of  Eadric  from  1006 
onward.  A  poor  translator  of  the  Chronicle,  he  seems  to  have 
been  a  violent  partisan,  whose  patriotism  led  him  to  account  for 
every  English  defeat  by  a  theory  of  betrayal.  The  story,  as  the 
Chronicle  gives  it,  is  one  which  is  reasonable,  if  hard  to  follow  from 
want  of  detail ;  but  as  the  insertions  of  Florence  have  moulded  it, 
the  treason  of  the  ealdormen  accounts  for  every  national  defeat, 
and  ^thelred  is  responsible  for  the  slackness  of  the  national  re- 
sistance. As  we  have  tried  to  show,  however,  the  causes  which 
underlay  the  great  crash  were  not  the  individual  action  of  this  or 
that  man,  the  treason  of  an  ealdorman,  or  the  weakness  of  a  king, 
but  must  be  sought  in  the  social  and  political  conditions  of  the 
time. 

^  He  signs  again  as  usual  from  994.  See  Cod.  Dip.  687,  688, 
1289,  etc. 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  997. 

'  Eng.  Chron.  998.     •'  And  forces  were  often  gathered  against 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^67 

on,  entered  the  Medway,  attacked  Rochester,  and  chap,  vm. 
harried  West  Kent.'  Whatever  may  have  been  the  The 
cause  of  ^thelred's  inactivity  before,  this  daring  at-  congest, 
tack  at  last  aroused  both  king  and  Witan.  Danger  ggglioie 
threatened  again  on  every  hand:  from  Norman  — 
and  from  Ostmen,  with  wikings  from  Man  and 
Northmen  from  Cumberland.  Ship-fyrd  and  land- 
fyrd  were  summoned,  but  delay  followed  delay,  and 
the  pirates  were  suffered  to  withdraw  unharmed  to 
the  Norman  harbors."  The  absence  of  any  attempt, 
three  years  before,  to  meet  Swein's  force  at  sea 
may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  English 
vessels  were  too  small  to  face  the  huge  war -ships 
which  were  now  employed  by  the  Scandinavian 
kings;  the  failure  to  meet  these  pirates'  shows 
that  the  naval  system  which  had  been  built  up  by 
Alfred  had  now  been  suffered  to  break  utterly 
down,  ^thelred's  action  at  this  moment  suggests 
such  a  failure  of  the  fleet.  As  if  aware  of  the  weak- 
ness of  his  own  naval  forces  he  now  took  into  his 
service  a  force  of  Danes,  with  Pallig,*  a  brother-in- 
law  of  Swein,  among  them,  and  used  this  to  clear 
the  seas.  The  first  point  at  which  the  king  struck 
was  Cumberland — the  district  had  only  just  become 
mainly  Norse  in  blood,  but  its  position  on  the  west- 
ern coast  made  it  perilous  to  the  realm,  and  it  had 

them ;  but  as  soon  as  they  should  have  joined  battle,  then  there  was 
ever,  through  some  cause,  flight  begun,  and  in  the  end  they  ever 
had  the  victory." 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  999.  *  Ibid.  1000. 

^  "  When  the  ships  were  ready,  then  the  crew  delayed  from  day 
to  day,  and  distressed  the  poor  people  that  lay  in  the  ships." — Eng. 
Chron.  a.  999. 

*  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (ed.  Hardy),  i.  289, 


^58       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cnAP.vni.no  doubt  given  aid  to  the  Ostmen  who  had  been 

The     harrying  in  the  Channel.     After  descents  on  the 

conquest.  Isle  of  Man  and  on  Cumberland/  ^thelred  again 

o^^Vma  turned  southward  to  follow  the  freebooters  to  their 

900— lUXO.  y^i  t^  r  r  1 

—     refuge  across  the  Channel.      If  we  may  trust  the 
Norman  chroniclers,  the  king's  descent  on  the  coast 

_. .    of  the  Cotentin  was  roughly  repulsed,  and  it  may 

have  been  the  discouragement  of  this  failure  which 
drove  him  anew  to  abandon  warfare  for  his  old  field 
of  diplomacy. 
Dm^/i  of  The  danger  from  the  north,  indeed,  had  now  be- 
come a  yet  more  pressing  one.  At  the  death  of 
the  Swedish  king,  Eric,  Swein's  fortunes  had  at  last 
seen  a  change,  for  Denmark  threw  off  the  Swedish 
yoke  and  recalled  its  king."^  Swein,  indeed,  had  still 
to  war  with  Eric's  son,  Olaf,  till  the  mediation  of 
Olaf's  mother,  whom  he  wedded,  brought  peace  with 
Sweden,  and  enabled  him  to  renew  his  father  s  effort 
to  establish  a  supremacy  over  Norway.  So  great 
was  the  power  of  Olaf  Tryggvason  that  it  was  only 
in  league  with  the  Swedes  and  Jarl  Hakon's  son, 
Eric,  that  Swein  ventured  to  attack  him ;  but  ill- 
luck  threw  the  Norwegian  king,  with  but  a  few  ves- 
sels, into  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  fleet  as  it  lurked 
among  the  islands  off  his  coast.  The  fight  in  which 
he  fell  was  long  famous  in  the  north.  "  King  Olaf 
stood  on  the  Serpeiifs  quarter-deck,  high  above  the 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1000.  The  Norse  settlement  of  Cumberland  was 
such  a  source  of  danger  in  itself,  as  much  probably  to  Malcolm  of 
Scots  as  to  ^thelred,  that  I  see  no  reason  to  prefer  the  story  in 
Fordun,  iv.  34,  to  that  in  Henry  of  Huntingdon,  a.  1000  (Arnold), 
p.  170. 

^  This  was  about  a.  d.  iooo. — Dahlmann,  Gesch.  v.  Dannemark, 
i.  92. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND^^^j^^a^  ^^^ 

rest.  He  had  a  gilded  shield  and  a  helm  inlaidwith  chapTvui. 
gold ;  over  his  armor  he  wore  a  short,  red  coat,  and  xi^e 
was  easy  to  be  distinguished  from  other  men.  When  conquest. 
King  Olaf  saw  that  the  scattered  forces  of  the  ene-  ggglioia 
my  gathered  themselves  under  the  banners  of  their  — 
ships,  he  asked,  '  Who  is  the  chief  of  the  force  right 
over  against  us?'  He  was  answered  that  it  was 
King  Swein,  with  the  Danish  host.  The  king  re- 
plied, '  We  are  not  afraid  of  these  soft  Danes,  for 
there  is  no  bravery  in  them.  But  who  are  they  to 
the  right  V  He  was  told  King  Olaf,  with  the  Swedes. 
'  Better  for  the  Swedes,'  he  said,  '  to  be  sitting  at 
home,  killing  their  sacrifices,  than  venturing  under 
our  weapons  from  the  Long  Serpent !  But  whose 
are  the  big  ships  to  larboard  V  '  That  is  Earl  Eric 
Hakonson,'  said  they.  *Ah!'  said  the  king,  'he, 
methinks,  has  good  ground  for  meeting  us,  and  we 
may  look  for  sharp  fighting  with  his  men,  for  they 
are  Northmen  like  ourselves.' "  It  was,  indeed,  Earl 
Eric's  men  that  pressed  Olaf  hardest  in  the  fight 
that  followed ;  and  at  last  earl's  ship  and  king's  ship 
lay  side  by  side.  "  So  thick  flew  spears  and  arrows 
into  the  Serpent  that  the  men's  shields  could  scarce 
contain  them,  for  the  Serpent  was  girt  in  on  all 
sides  by  our  ships."  Though  Olaf's  men  fell  fast, 
"  Einar  Tambarskelver,  one  of  the  sharpest  of  bow- 
shooters,  stood  yet  by  the  mast  and  shot  with  his 
bow."  But  as  he  drew  his  bow  an  arrow  from  Eric's 
ship  hit  it  in  the  midst  and  the  bow  was  broken. 
"'What  is  that,'  cried  King  Olaf,  'that  broke  with 
such  a  noise  ?'  '  Norway,  king,  from  thy  hands !' 
cried  Einar.  '  No,  not  quite  so  much  as  that,'  said 
Olaf ;  '  take  my  bow  and  shoot !'  and  he  tossed  the 

24 


270       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  viir.  bow  to  him.     Einar  took  the  bow  and  drew  it  over 

The     the  arrow's  head.     '  Too  weak,  too  weak,'  he  said, 

c?nTue^t.  '^^^  ^he  bow  of  a  mighty  king !'  and  throwing  down 

—  the  bow  he  took  sword  and  shield,  and  fought  val- 

—  iantly." '  The  fight,  however,  was  all  but  over ;  so 
few  were  the  fighters  that  Eric  could  board  the 
Serpent ;  the  little  group  about  the  king  were  slain ; 
and  Olaf  himself,  throwing  his  shield  over  his  head, 
leaped  desperately  into  the  sea. 

riie  Nor-  Master,  by  this  victory,  of  the  North,  Swein's  hands 
'%'/4-^!'  were  free  for  his  long-planned  attack  on  England; 
and  in  1002  it  was  clear  that  such  an  attack  was 
impending.  To  deprive  the  Danish  king  of  Nor- 
man aid  and  to  close  the  Norman  harbors  against 
him  was  an  obvious  measure  of  precaution  ;"*  but  as 
yet  England  had  failed  in  securing  the  neutrality  of 
Normandy,  either  by  treaties  or  by  force  of  arms, 
^thelred  now  resolved  to  bind  Normandy  to  him 
by  a  personal  bond,  and  in  the  Lent  of  1002  Duke 
Richard's  daughter,  Emma,  crossed  to  the  shores 
of  England  as  its  king's  wife.  The  step  which  the 
king  took  was  one  of  the  highest  moment.  In  it 
^thelred  broke  away  from  the  traditional  policy  of 
his  house,  which  from  i^thelstan  downward  had 
aimed  at  crushing  or  curbing  the  Northmen  of  the 
Channel,  by  a  measure  which  could  not  but  link 
their  fortunes  with  the  fortunes  of  England  itself. 
But  Normandy  was  now  a  wholly  different  power 

*  Laing,  Sea  Kings  of  Norway,  i.  475. 

'  "The  Jarls  of  Rouen  reckoned  themselves  of  kin  to  the  chiefs 
in  Norway,  and  held  them  in  such  respect  that  they  were  always 
the  greatest  friends  of  the  Northmen ;  and  every  Northman  found 
a  friendly  country  in  Normandy,  if  he  needed  it." — St,  Olaf s  Saga, 
Laing,  Sea  Kings,  ii.  16. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^j 

from  the  pirate  State  which  had  roused  jealous  fear  chap,  vm. 
in  Eadward  or  ^thelstan.    The  century  which  had     The 
passed  since  the  settlement  of  the  Northmen  along  congest, 
the  Seine  had  seen  the  steady  growth  of  the  duchy  gggZiiig. 
in  extent  and  in  power.     Much  of  this  was  due  to     — 
the  ability  of  its  rulers,  to  the  vigor  and  wisdom 
with  which  Hrolf  forced  order  and  justice  on  the 
new  community,  as  well  as  to  the  political  tact  with 
which  both   Hrolf  and  William  Longsword  clung 
to  the  Karolings  in  their  strife  with  the  dukes  of 
Paris.     But  still  more  was  owing  to  the  steadiness 
with  which  both  these  rulers  remained  faithful  to 
the  Christianity  which  had  been  imposed  on  the 
Northmen  as  a  condition  of  their  settlement,  and 
to  the  firm  resolve  with  which  they  trampled  down 
the  temper  and  traditions  which  their  people  had 
brought   from   their   Scandinavian    homeland,  and 
welcomed  the  language  and  civilization  which  came 
in  the  wake  of  their  neighbors'  religion. 

The  difficulties  that  met  the  dukes  were  indeed  ^#"j^^''" 
enormous.  Turn  to  France  as  they  might,  it  was  Norman 
long  before  France  would  turn  to  them.  It  dis- 
believed in  their  religious  earnestness,  it  credited 
wild  stories  about  Hrolf s  sacrifices  on  his  death- 
bed, about  the  apostasy  of  William  and  his  boy.  It 
disbelieved  in  their  craving  for  admission  into  the 
body  of  French  nationality  and  French  civilization 
— it  called  the  Normans  "  pirates,"  and  their  chief 
the  "pirates'  duke."  The  very  sovereigns  whom 
they  supported  looked  on  them  as  intruders  to  be 
guarded  against,  and  to  be  thrust  out  of  the  land 
if  it  were  possible.  They  were  girt  in  by  hostile 
States,  they  were  threatened  at  sea  by  England, 


272       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.viii.  under  y^thelstan  a  network  of  alliances  menaced 
Thi^  them  with  ruin.  Once  a  French  army  occupied 
cX^est.  Rouen,  and  a  French  king  held  the  pirates'  land  at 
988^16  ^^^  ^^^^^  ^  ^^^^  ^^^  German  lances  were  seen  from 
—  the  walls  of  their  capital.  Nor  were  their  diffi- 
culties within  less  than  those  without.  The  subject 
population  which  had  been  trodden  underfoot  by 
the  northern  settlers  was  seething  with  discontent 
The  policy  of  Christianization  and  civilization  broke 
the  Normans  themselves  into  two  parties.  A  great 
portion  of  the  people  clung  to  their  old  religion  and 
their  old  tongue ;  and  this  body  was  continually  re- 
inforced by  fresh  incomers  from  the  north  or  from 
the  English  Danelaw,  and  strengthened  by  those 
connections  with  its  heathen  brethren  in  the  Chan- 
nel which  were  forced  on  the  duchy  by  the  French 
attacks.  The  very  conquests  of  Hrolf  and  his  suc- 
cessor, the  Bessin,  the  Cotentin,  had  to  be  settled 
and  held  by  the  new-comers,  who  made  them 
strongholds  of  heathendom.  The  strength  of  this 
party  of  resistance  was  seen  in  a  revolt  which  shook 
the  throne  of  William  Longsword,  in  the  concession 
it  forced  from  him  that  his  child  should  be  reared 
in  the  Bessin,  in  the  pagan  reaction  which  followed 
his  death  and  gave  a  pretext  for  the  invasion  of 
Lewis  From -over -sea,  as  well  as  in  the  stubborn 
resistance  to  change  which  must  have  gone  on 
throughout  the  reign  of  the  two  dukes  who  fol- 
lowed William,  ere  it  broke  out  for  the  last  time 
in  the  revolt  of  Val-es-dunes. 
Their  But  amidst  difficulties  from  within  and  from  with- 
poiicy.  out  the  dukes  held  firm  to  their  course,  and  their 
stubborn  will  had  its  reward.     In  spite  of  reinforce- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^y^ 

ment  from  their  pirate  -  brethren,  the  balance  of  chap,  vm. 
strength  went  more  and  more  against  the  men  who  The 
clung  to  the  northern  customs  and  the  northern  conquest, 
tongue.  By  the  end  of  William  Longsword's  days  gsslioie 
all  Normandy,  save  the  newly- settled  districts  of  — 
the  west,  was  Christian  and  spoke  French.  So,  too, 
in  spite  of  the  hatred  and  leagues  of  his  neighbors, 
the  Norman  never  loosed  his  grip  from  the  land  he 
had  won.  Attack,  indeed,  only  widened  its  bounds, 
and  added  to  the  older  duchy  the  broad  lands  of  the 
Bessin  and  Cotentin.  The  work  of  the  statesman 
at  last  completed  the  work  of  the  sword.  As  the 
connection  of  the  dukes  with  the  Karoling  kings 
had  given  them  the  land,  and  helped  them  for  fifty 
years  to  hold  it  against  the  House  of  Paris,  so  in 
the  downfall  of  the  Karolings  the  sudden  and 
adroit  change  of  front  which  bound  the  Norman 
rulers  to  the  House  of  Paris  in  its  successful  strug- 
gle for  the  Crown  secured  the  land  forever  to  the 
Northmen.  The  close  connection  which  France 
was  forced  to  maintain  with  the  State  whose  sup- 
port held  the  new  royal  line  on  its  throne  told  both 
on  kingdom  and  duchy.  The  French  dread  of  the 
"  pirates "  died  gradually  away,  while  French  influ- 
ence spread  yet  more  rapidly  over  a  people  which 
clung  so  closely  to  the  French  crown. 

It  was  thus  that  the  social  and  religious  change  its  results. 
which  was  in  full  play  at  the  death  of  William 
Longsword,  took  a  new  strength  and  vigor  through 
the  days  of  his  successor,  Duke  Richard  the  Fear- 
less, whose  long  reign  stretched  over  more  than 
half  a  century,  from  943  to  996.  It  opened,  indeed, 
with  a  storm  of  reaction,  the  terrible  strife  which 


374       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAivviir.  all  but  laid  the  duchy  at  the  feet  of  Lewis  From- 
The     over -sea.     But  the  storm  soon  died  down  into  a 

conquest,  profound  repose.     Without,  all  danger  passed  away. 

988^16.  Fi'ance,  under  its  new  rulers,  was  friendly.  The. 
—  England  of  Eadgar  was  no  longer  anxious  about 
Norman  aid  to  the  Danelaw.  The  Breton  was 
overmastered.  The  Fleming  held  his  hand.  And 
within  the  duchy  itself  the  Normans  had  learned 
the  danger  of  civil  strife.  So  tranquil  was  the  land 
that  hardly  an  event  is  recorded  on  the  other  side 
the  Channel  for  the  thirty  years  that  cover  the 
reigns  of  Eadred,  Eadgar,  and  Eadmund  the  Martyr. 
In  this  long  stillness  the  fusion  of  conquerors  and 
conquered,  the  Christianization  and  civilization  of 
the  Norman,  his  assimilation  in  political  and  social 
temper  to  the  France  beside  him,  went  steadily  on. 
If  the  free  institutions  of  the  north  had  passed  to 
Norman  soil  their  very  memory  was  now  lost.  Save 
for  a  dim  tradition  of  "the  Laws  of  Hrolf,"  the 
power  of  the  duke  was  henceforth  unchecked  by 
legal  bounds;  and  the  northern  sense  of  equality 
faded  away  as  the  duchy  drifted  towards  the  feu- 
dalism of  the  countries  around  it.  A  baronage 
sprang  from  the  friends  or  children  of  the  dukes, 
whose  houses  were  to  stamp  their  names  on  our 
later  history.  The  kinsmen  of  Richards  wife, 
Gunnor,  became  heads  of  great  families  which 
played  their  part  on  both  French  and  English  soil. 
From  her  brother  Herfast  sprang  the  house  of  Fitz- 
Osbern;  from  her  children  came  the  counts  of  Eu 
and  of  Brionne,  as  well  as  the  counts  of  Mortain. 
The  lords  of  Belesme,  the  Montgomeries,  the  Beau- 
monts,  rose  into  power  on  the  Norman  border-land, 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       375 

while   within    it    Giffards   and    Tancarvilles,  War- chap,  vm. 
rennes    and    Mowbrays    and    Mortimers,  came   to     The 
the  front  in  the  tranquil  years  during  which  Rich-  cSiTuest. 
ard  the  Fearless  transformed  the  pirates'  land  into  ggglioie. 
a  feudal  Normandy. 

The  reisrn  of  Richard  the  Good  stretched  like  Th^Eug- 
that  of  his  father  over  a  long  tract  of  years,  from  necUon. 
996  to  1026 ;  but  they  were  still  for  the  most  part 
years  of  tranquillity.  Within  the  duchy,  indeed,  a 
fierce  outbreak  of  the  peasantry  against  the  grow- 
ing feudalism  had  to  be  trodden  out  in  blood ;  but 
that  done  all  was  peace,  and  the  process  of  civiliza- 
tion and  Christianization  went  steadily  on.  People 
and  duke,  indeed,  showed  the  same  temper,  the  same 
daring  and  passionate  courage,  the  same  craft,  cun- 
ning, wariness,  secrecy,  patience,  the  same  steady 
industry  and  shrewdness  in  business,  which  before 
many  years  were  over  was  to  make  them  the  best 
diplomatists,  fighters,  lawyers,  and  builders  of  their 
day.  Without,  Richard  looked  on  at  the  revolu- 
tions of  the  France  across  his  borders  with  little 
interference,  save  the  giving  a  general  support  to 
the  king  at  Paris.  But  in  spite  of  this  seeming 
inaction  it  was  the  reign  of  Richard  the  Good  that 
saw  the  most  momentous  event  in  the  whole  history 
of  Normandy.  The  keen  eye  of  ^thelred  detected 
the  change  which  had  come  over  the  temper  of  the 
duchy,  and  saw  the  possibility  of  detaching  it  from 
the  Scandinavian  attack  by  an  alliance  with  its 
dukes.  His  descent  on  the  coast  of  Normandy 
the  year  before  may,  indeed,  have  quickened  Duke 
Richard  the  Good's  wish  for  the  alliance  which 
^thelred  was  now  to  propose  to  him.     If  ^thel- 


^^5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.  Stan's  embassy  was  the  first  step  to  a  connection 
The  between  the  two  countries,  and  the  alliance  of  991 
cSiTuest.  the  second,  the  marriage  treaty  of  100 1  was  one 
988^16.  which  brought  the  two  countries  fairly  together. 
—  Events  had  shown  that  a  mere  convention  such  as 
that  of  991  could  not  prevent  Norman  ports  from 
being  open  and  Norman  aid  given  to  y^thelred's 
Danish  foes.  Yet  it  was  of  the  first  importance,  if 
the  Channel  were  to  be  kept  clear,  that  these  ports 
should  be  closed  to  them.  The  measure  was  there- 
fore right  in  policy;'  and  in  its  immediate  results 
proved  eminently  successful,  for  from  the  moment 
of  Emma's  marriage  Normandy  not  only  stood  apart 
from  the  Danish  attack  on  its  neighbor  realm,  but 
drifted  more  and  more  into  an  attitude  of  hostil- 
ity against  the  Dane.  It  gave  refuge  to  ^thelred 
when  he  was  driven  from  his  kingdom.  It  enabled 
him  to  return  and  again  seize  his  crown.  It  shel- 
tered his  children  from  the  hatred  of  Cnut.  It  at 
last  plunged  into  war  with  the  Danish  kings  for 
their  restoration.  But  the  indirect  effects  of  Em- 
ma's marriage  were  far  more  momentous  than  its 
direct  effects,  both  for  England  and  for  Normandy. 
In  severing  the  duchy  from  all  connection  with  its 
Scandinavian  kinsmen,  as  in  binding  its  rulers  by 
blood-ties  to  the  English  crown,  it  suddenly  opened 
for  its  rulers  a  distinct  policy,  a  distinct  course  of 
action,  which  led  to  the  Norman  conquest  of  Eng- 
land. From  the  moment  of  Emma's  marriage  Nor- 
•    mandy  became  a  chief  factor  in   English  politics. 


*  After  the  time  of  Swein's  withdrawal,  that  is,  from  997  to  1002, 
the  war  had  really  been  a  Norman  war,  fed  by  fleets  finding  harbor 
in  Norman  ports. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


zn 


For  the  next  sixty  years  we  shall  have  to  watch  the  chap.  vm. 
gradual  strengthening  of  the  tie  which  now  for  the     The 
first  time  bound  the  two  countries  directly  together,  conquest. 
For  fifty  years  to  come  England  saw  a  Norman  lady  gggli^ie 
as  queen  or  queen-mother  wielding  power  in   the      — 
land.     The  Norman  settlement  in  England  began 
with  that  of  her  train.     With  the  shelter  given  to 
^thelred  at  the  Norman  court,  which  was  the  first 
result  of  the  rnarriage,  as  with  its  secondary  issues 
in  the  protection  of  his  children,  their  Norman  train- 
ing, and  the  gradual  espousal  of  their  claims  on  the 
English  throne  by  the  Norman  nobles,  began  that 
interference  of  the  Norman  in  the  fortunes  of  Eng- 
land which  was  at  last  crowned  by  the  victory  of 
Senlac. 

Few  of  these  issues,  however,  could  be  foreseen  Political 
when  yEthelred,  in  the  spring  of  1002,  brought  'of 
home  the  duke's  daughter  as  his  wife.'  All  that  the 
king  aimed  at  was  to  guard  against  any  co-operation 
of  Normandy  in  the  coming  attack  of  Swein,  and 
that  result  was  secured.  But  Swein  had  still  to  be 
met;  and  whatever  strength  ^thelred  had  gained 
for  this  struggle  by  his  foreign  policy  was  more  than 
compensated  by  the  growing  weakness  within  the 
realm.  Since  the  revolution  which  followed  on  the 
death  of  Byrhtnoth  and  /Ethelwine  the  number  and 
order  of  the  great  ealdormen  had  remained  the 
same.  At  their  head  had  stood  the  two  West- 
Saxon  ealdormen,  ^thelweard  and  (in  spite  of  his 
treason  and  temporary  exile)  ^Ifric ;  then  the 
Northumbrian  ealdormen,  ^^Ifhelm  and  Waltheof ; 
then  Leofwine  of  the  Hwiccas,  and  Leofsige  of  Es- 

*  In  Lent,  icx)2. — Eng.  Chron.  (Peterborough). 


England. 


^yg  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.  sex.     Ulfcytel,  though  probably  ruHng  at  this  time 
The     in  East  AngHa,  still  bore  only  the  title  of  thegn.'     In 
conquest  999  ^thelweard  seems  to  have  been  removed  by 
ggg— jg  death,  and  ^Ifric  takes  his  place  at  the  head  of  the 
—     ealdormen,  but  his  three  fellows  remain  as  before. 
Leofsige  was  as  active  as  of  old;  and  while  ^thel- 
red  was  negotiating  his  Norman  marriage,  the  eal- 
dorman  of  Essex  was  sent  to  the  pirate  fleet  to  buy 
a  truce  at  a  cost  of  twenty-four  thousand  pounds.' 
But  the  king  was  still  secretly  at  feud  with  his  coun- 
sellors ;  and  in  the  case  of  Leofsige,  the  hostility  was 
embittered  by  the  disappointment  of  the  hopes  with 
which  ^thelred  had  raised  him  to  his  post.     Favor- 
ite as  he  was,  no  sooner  was  he  made  ealdorman 
than  his  "  pride  and  daring,"  and  the  offence  he  gave 
to   the   king,  equalled  those  of  his  fellow -nobles.' 
^thelred  took  refuge  in  a  fresh  expedient  by  rais- 
ing a  new  favorite,  ^fic,  to  the  post  of  high  reeve,* 
in  which  we  may,  perhaps,  again  see  a  foreshadow- 
ing of  the  coming  justiciary.     But  the  attempt  was 

'  He  first  signs  as  minister  in  988  (Cod.  Dip.  1289),  and  is  never 
found  as  "  dux." 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  looi.  The  old  Winchester  Chronicle  has  here 
appended  a  curious  entry  of  the  year,  which  gives  its  proceedings 
in  greater  detail. 

*  "  Leofsinum,"  says  ^thelred  in  a  charter  (Cod.  Dip.  719),  "  quern 
de  satrapis  nomine  tuli,  ad  celsioris  apicem  dignitatis  dignum  duxi 
promovere,  ducem  constituendo,  scilicet  eum  unde  humiliari  magis 
debuerat.  .  .  .  Sed  ipse  hoc  oblitus,  cernens  se  in  culmine  majoris 
status  sub  rogatu  famulari  sibi  pestilentes  spiritus  promisit,  superbiae 
scilicet  et  audaciae,  quibus  nichilominus  ipse  se  dedidit  in  tantum  ut 
fioccipenderet  quin  offensione  multimoda  me  multoties  graviter 
offenderet." 

*  "  Praefectum  meum  ^ficum,  quem  primatum  inter  primatos  meos 
taxavi."— Cod.  Dip. 719.  "The  King's  High  Reeve."— Eng.  Chron. 
a.  1002. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^7^ 

roughly  met;  for  Leofsige  at  once  broke  into  yEfic'scHAP.  vm. 
house,  and  there  slew  him.'  The 

In  the  general  disgust  at  such  a  deed  of  violence,  congest, 
it  was  easy  for  ^^thelred  to  win  from  the  Witan  a  gssTioie. 
sentence  of  deg:radation  and  banishment  ao^ainst  „.~r 
Leofsige ; ""  but  the  outrage  had  revealed  the  inner  "/ 
strife  within  the  royal  council  which  was  paralyzing 
all  effective  resistance  to  the  Dane.  The  military 
measures  of  resistance  were  defeated  by  ^thelred 
himself.  The  chastisement  of  the  Ostmen  and  the 
marriage  alliance  with  Normandy  had  deprived 
Swein  of  his  main  sources  of  help  without  the 
realm ;  while  for  the  defence  of  England  itself 
^thelred  counted  on  the  help  of  Northmen  like 
Pallig,  whom  he  had  drawn  into  his  service  by 
offers  of  pay,'  and  who,  like  the  huscarls  that  fol- 
lowed them,  seem  to  have  been  quartered  over  the 
country  throughout  southern  Britain.  But,  however 
effective  these  measures  might  have  been,  they  were 
frustrated  by  the  king's  quick  changes  of  purpose. 
Distrust  grew  up  between  the  king  and  the  northern 
mercenaries  whom  he  had  hired  to  meet  the  coming 
invasion.  The  security  which  ^thelred  felt  from 
his  connection  with  Normandy  showed  itself  in  a 
haughty  indifference  to  their  aid,  while  in  both  king 

'  "  Non  cunctatus  in  propria  domo  ejus  eo  inscio  perimere/' — Cod. 
Dip.  719. 

"  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1002.  Leofsige's  signature  as  ealdorman  disap- 
pears after  the  year  1 001.  Cod.  Dip.  719,  which  shows  the  Witan 's 
part.  The  charter  is  of  1012,  and  shows  how  the  deed  rankled  in 
^thelred's  mind  ten  years  after. 

'  This  employment  of  hired  Danes  may  have  been  as  much  to 
strengthen  him  against  his  own  ealdormen  as  against  the  Northmen 
— an  attempt  to  bring  together  a  standing  army. 


^So       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.  and  people  the  dread  of  Swein's  invasion  broke  out 
m     in  whispers  that  these  strangers  were  plotting  the 
cXuest.  murder  of  the  king  and  his  Witan,  and  the  seiz- 
988lioi6.  u^^  ^^  *^^  ^^"^'  ^"^  ^^  November,  1002,  the  panic 
—     spread  to  i^thelred  himself.     An  order  of  the  king, 
which  was  welcomed  everywhere,  brought  about  a 
general  massacre  of  the  Danes  on  St.  Brice's  Day,' 
and  those  who  were  not  slain  by  the  sword  were 
burned  in  their  houses. 
Swein's       Xhe  whole  plan  of  defence  was  thus  thrown  into 
confusion,  when  Swein's  fleet  reached  England  in 
the  spring  of  1003.     ^^  steered  for  Exeter,  the  dow- 
ry town  of  Emma,  and  the  surrender  of  the  city  by 
Hugh,"  a  Norman  follower  of  the  queen  whom  she 
had  appointed  its  reeve,  at  once  proclaimed  the  ruin 
of  ^thelred's  hopes  from  his  alliance  with  the  Nor- 
mans, while  it  gave  a  new  character  to  the  war. 
During  the  previous  fifteen  years  the   Danish  at- 
tacks had  been  mere  plunder-raids;  but  the  fall  of 
Exeter  gave  Swein  a  base  of  operations  from  which 
he  could  advance  into  the  heart  of  the  country.     He 
had  marched  into  Wiltshire  before  any  force  could 
be  gathered  to  oppose  him,  but  here  he  was  met  by 
the  fyrd  of  Wiltshire  and    Hampshire  under  the 
command  of  their  own  ealdorman,  ./^Ifric.     For  the 
last  few  years  ^Ifric  had  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
royal  counsellors;  but  he  was  now  prostrated  with 
sickness,  and  his  camp  torn  with  strife  which  in  the 
end  left  Swein  master  of  the  field.'     The  fyrd,  in 

*  November  13. — Eng.  Chron.  a.  1002. 

»  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1003.  The  attack  on  Exeter  looks  as  if  Swein 
came  from  Normandy,  which  would  explain  the  betrayal  of  the  city 
by  the  Norman  Hugh. 

'  ^Ifric's  sickness,  which  the  Chronicle  brands  as  mere  treachery. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^gl 

fact,  broke  up  without  fighting,  and  Swein  marched  chap.  vm. 
by  Wilton  and  Old  Sarum  to  the  sea  unhindered.'  The 
But  the  war  was  now  to  take  a  wider  range.  With  conquest 
the  exception  of  a  few  raids,  it  had  been  limited  for  '~^ 
fifteen  years,  from  988  to  1003,  to  Wessex.  But  — 
W^essex  must  now  have  been  harried  till  little  booty 
was  left.  In  the  next  year,  1004,  his  fleet  appeared 
"  unawares  "  on  the  coast  of  East  Anglia,  seized  and 
harried  Norwich,  a  town  which  had  grown  up  at  the 
junction  of  the  Wensum  with  the  Yare,  and  which 
was  now  the  chief  port  on  the  eastern  coast.  Ulfcy- 
tel,  whose  name  tells  of  northern  blood,  was  ruler  in 
East  Anglia;  and  though  he  bore  but  the  title  of 
thegn,  his  position  seems  to  have  been  one  of  as 
great  independence  as  that  of  the  earlier  ealdormen. 
The  Danes  knew  the  land  as  "  Ulfcytel's  land ;"  and 
now  that  Swein  appeared  off  the  coast,  the  thegn 
and  his  Witan  made  their  own  treaties  and  fouj^ht 
their  own  fights  as  if  East  Anglia  were  again  a  sep- 
arate kingdom.  The  Witan  saw  at  first  no  course 
left  save  to  buy  off  the  invaders;  but  while  the 
truce  for  this  purpose  went  on,  the  Danes  suddenly 
marched  inland  and  plundered  Thetford.  Ulfcytel 
summoned  the  fyrd  in  haste,  and  thin  as  were  his 
ranks,  the  Danes  themselves  owned  that  "  never 
worse  hand-play  met  they  among  Englishmen."' 
But  the  day  still  went  for  the  Northmen.  The 
East-Anglian  fyrd  broke  with  the  loss  of  its  noblest 

was  probably  real  enough.  The  strife  within  the  camp  had  more  to 
do  with  the  breakdown  of  the  fyrd  than  the  sickness  of  the  general. 
"  Hi  anraede  naeron." 

*  "  To  the  sea  again,  where  he  knew  that  his  sea-horses  were."^ 
Eng.  Chron.  a.  1003. 

"  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1004. 


382  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

ciiAP^iii.  warriors,  and  no  hindrance  lay  in  the  way  of  Swein's 

The     march  into  the  heart  of  Britain, 
conquest.      Again,  however,  the  doom  of  the  country  was  de- 
988^16  l^y^d.     We  do  not  know  whether  dangers  at  home 
,  —  ,  drew  Swein  from  his  enterprise,  or  whether  his  force 

Internal  ^  ,  . 

troubles,  was  insufficient  for  a  more  serious  campaign ;  but 
from  East  Anglia  his  fleet  sailed  back  again  to  Den- 
mark, and  for  a  year,  at  least,  the  country  had  a  res- 
pite from  Danish  attack.  But  it  had  no  respite 
from  the  more  fatal  troubles  within,  -^fic's  place 
at  court  was  filled  by  a  new  high-reeve,  Wulfgeat, 
who  probably  directed  the  king  s  policy  in  the  short 
interval  of  peace  that  followed  Swein's  departure  at 
the  end  of  1004.  I^^t  only  two  years  later,  in  1006, 
the  new  minister  was  displaced  by  a  revolution, 
which  seems  to  have  been  accompanied  by  deeds  of 
violence  like  those  which  had  accompanied  the  fall 
of  ^fic'  The  murder  of  the  Deiran  ealdorman 
yElfhelm,  in  the  course  of  this  revolution,  brought 
about  a  change  of  government  in  the  north ;  for 
yEthelred  saw  himself  forced  to  undo  the  policy  of 
Dunstan  and  Eadgar,  to  mass  together  Deira  and 
Bernicia  into  a  single  earldom,  and  to  place  it  in  the 
hands  of  Uhtred,  whose  father,  Waltheof,  had,  as  we 
have  seen,  been  Earl  of  the  Bernicians.  Uhtred 
showed  his  strength  by  a  victory  which  he  gained 

^  The  Chronicle  says :  "  Wulfgeat  was  deprived  of  all  his  goods, 
Wulfeah  and  Ufegeat  were  blinded,  and  Ealdorman  ^Ifhelm  (of 
Deira)  was  slain."  This  short  entry  is  expanded  by  Florence,  in  the 
twelfth  century,  into  an  ambush  and  murder  of  ^Ifhelm  at  Shrews- 
bury by  Eadric,  and  a  blinding  of  "  his  sons,"  Wulfeah  and  Ufegeat, 
by  ^thelred.  The  story  is  legendary  in  form,  evidently  looks  on 
Eadric  as  already  Ealdorman  of  Mercia  in  1006,  a  year  before  his  ap- 
pointment, and  is  of  no  contemporary  value. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^83 

at  Durham  over  the  Scot  king,  Malcolm,  who  made,  chap. vm. 
at  this  time,  an  inroad  into  the  north,  and  ^thelred     The 
was  glad  to  bind  him  to  his  cause  by  a  marriage  conquest, 
with  his  daughter  .^Ifgifu.;  esslioie. 

The  fate  of  ^^fic  and  of  Wulfgeat  was  far  from  — . 
turning  ^thelred  from  his  ministerial  schemes. 
The  number  of  the  great  ealdormen  and  their  influ- 
ence at  court  had  gone  on  steadily  diminishing. 
The  places  of  those  that  died  do  not  seem  to  have 
been  commonly  filled  up;  and  after  the  death  of 
^Ifhelm,  only  ^Ifric  and  Leofwine  remained  to 
sign  the  royal  charters.  Uhtred  and  Ulfcytel  exist- 
ed as  provincial  rulers,  but  can  have  hardly  swayed 
the  policy  of  a  court  in  which  they  seldom  appear. 
That  policy  was  now  ^^thelred's  own,  or  rather  that 
of  a  new  high-reeve,  Eadric,  for  whom  the  disgrace 
of  Wulfgeat  seems  to  have  made  room.  While  later 
tradition  charged  the  new  minister,  as  political  fac- 
tion has  always  charged  its  opponents,  with  faith- 
lessness, haughtiness,  and  pride,  it  owned  his  intelli- 
gence and  his  eloquent  tongue.  What  is  most 
notable  in  the  charges  brought  against  him  is  that 
of  low  birth.  The  tendency  of  the  time,  as  the  grow- 
ing feudalism  of  the  Continent  proves,  lay  the  other 
way ;  but  whije  rulers  like  the  Norman  dukes  would 
not  suffer  any  but  men  of  noble  blood  at  their  court, 

^  Simeon  of  Durham  (Twysden),  p.  80.  Mr.  Freeman  seems  to 
have  rightly  consigned  the  Scot  invasion  to  this  year,  though  Sim- 
eon dates  it  earlier.  It  may  have  been  connected  with  ^Ifhelm's 
murder,  which,  if  we  set  aside  the  story  in  Florence,  would  seem 
rather  to  form  part  of  a  struggle  which  had  been  going  on  during 
this  period  between  the  Deiran  and  Bernician  earls,  and  which,  in 
spite  of  Waltheof's  displacement  by  the  Witan,  ended  eventually  in 
the  triumph  of  the  latter. 


^84       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.viii.it  marked  a  larger  temper  in  i^thelred  when  he 
The  raised  into  power  this  low-born  ceorl,  solely  for  his 
cra^nest.  wise  head  and  skill  of  speech.'  Eadric  may  thus 
988^16  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  predecessor,  not  only  of  the  obscure- 
—  ly-born  Godwine  before  the  Conquest,  but  of  the 
new  men  whom  our  Norman  kings,  in  spite  of  their 
nobles,  called  to  the  council-board  after  it.  From 
the  outset  of  his  administration  we  feel  a  firmer 
hand  in  the  management  of  affairs.  Though  the 
Danes  reappeared  on  the  southern  coast,  yEthelred 
himself  seems  to  have  met  them  with  the  land-fyrd ; 
and  while  avoiding  an  engagement,  to  have  held 
them  in  check  through  the  autumn.  On  their  ap- 
parent withdrawal  into  winter-quarters  in  the  Isle 
of  Wight,  the  king  marched  westward  to  Shrews- 
bury, and  took  post  on  the  Severn,  no  doubt  to 
check  the  growing  turbulence  of  the  Welsh.  But 
the  pirates  no  sooner  saw  the  land  clear  than  they 
again  made  a  raid  as  far  inland  as  Berkshire,  light- 
ing their  war-beacons  as  they  went,  and  marching 
along  Ashdown  as  far  as  the  mound  of  Cuckamsly, 
as  though  to  defy  the  old  proverb,  "  Men  said  if  they 
sought  to  Cwichelmslowe — they  never  to  sea  should 
gang  again."'  The  fyrd  of  the  shires  was  hastily 
summoned  to  cut  off  their  retreat ;  but  it  was  easily 
brushed  aside,  and  the  pirates  carried  their  booty  in 
triumph  to  their  quarters  in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  As 
they  were  masters  of  the  sea,  it  was  impossible  to 
drive    them    from    this    stronghold,  and    in    1007, 

'       ^  Eadric  was  known  in  after-times  as  "  Edricus  Streona"  (Flor. 
Wore,  ed.  Thorpe,  i.  1 58),  or  "  acquisitor  "  (Orderic,  Duchesne,  Hist. 
Norm.  Script,  p.  506,  B).    The  nickname  evidently  alludes  to  his 
great  accumulations  of  property. 
^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1006. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^3^ 

i^thelred  and  the  Witan  again  bought  a  truce  for  chap.  vm. 
the  heavy  sum  of  thirty  thousand  pounds.  The 

But  the  two  years  of  peace  which  this  tribute  conquest, 
purchased  were  not  thrown  away  as  previous  breath-  gggl^ie 
ing-spaces  had  been.     Reversing  his  poHcy  of  de-  „ — 

^    \  .  1  11  Measures 

stroying  the  great  ealdormanries,  and  equally  set-  of  defence. 
ting  aside  the  tradition  of  intrusting  these  govern- 
ments to  the  royal  kin,  i^thelred  now  set  Eadric  as 
ealdorman  over  Mercia/  or  rather  over  all  of  it  save 
the  land  of  the  Hwiccas,  whose  ealdorman,  Leofwine, 
still  sat  in  the  royal  councils."  Eadric  was  bound, 
like  the  Northumbrian  ealdorman,  to  the  interests 
of  the  crown  by  a  marriage  with  one  of  ^Ethelred's 
daughters,  and  it  was  doubtless  to  him  that  the 
active  measures  of  political  and  military  organization 
which  distinguish  this  period  were  due.  A  general 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  king  was  now  exacted  from 
every  subject,  while  a  promise  of  just  laws  and  mild 
government  appealed  to  the  loyalty  of  all.  The 
oath  of  allegiance  was,  indeed,  coupled  with  the 
same  declaration  of  loyalty  to  God  and  the  Church. 
But  if  the  hand  of  Archbishop  ^Ifheah '  is  seen  in 
the  injunctions  for  a  better  observance  of  festivals 
and  Church  dues,  and  avoidance  of  "  heathenism,"  * 
the  more  practical  mind  of  Eadric  turned  to  meas- 
ures of  defense. 

*  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1007. 

^  Leofwine  still  goes  on  signing  charters  with  his  old  precedence. 
^  ^Ifheah  was  translated  from  Winchester  to  Canterbury  on  the 
death  of  ^Ifric  in  1005.— (A.  S.  G.) 

*  "^Icne  haethendom  mid  ealle  aweorpan." — Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws 
and  Inst.  i.  313.  These  ordinances  are  dated  1008.  Mr.  Freeman 
refers  to  about  the  same  time  the  decrees  of  the  undated  council  of 
Evesham.— Norm.  Conq.  i.  335. 

25 


^86       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiARjiii.      An  attempt  was  made  to  give  fresh  life  to  the 

The     fyrd  system  by  dividing  the  country  into  military 

conquest,  groups,  SO  that  "  every  eight  hides  sent  a  helmet  and 

988J016.  co^^  o^  mail," '  by  exacting   heavy  penalties  from 

^rz  ,  all  who  did  not  come  to  the  hosting  at  the  king's 

The  fyrd  .    .  ,  ,  (■ 

and  the  call,  and  by  provisions  for  a  punctual  payment  of 
the  local  contributions  which  were  due  for  the  ex- 
penses of  forts  and  bridges,  or  the  defence  of  the 
land.  More  effective  steps  were  taken  for  the  re- 
organization of  the  fleet.  Nothing  is  more  remark- 
able throughout  ^thelred's  reign  than  the  absence 
of  any  attempt  to  meet  the  Danish  ships  at  sea.  It 
is  clear,  whatever  the  cause  may  have  been,  that  the 
naval  organization  of  the  country  had  broken  down ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  small  fishing  vessels, 
which  were  all  that  the  English  ports  could  provide, 
were  unable  to  cope  with  the  large  war  vessels  now 
used  by  the  Danes.  A  special  war  fleet  had,  in 
fact,  to  be  created ;  and  to  create  such  a  fleet  it  was 
necessary  to  call  on  the  resources  of  the  country  at 
large.  By  the  new  fleet-law  it  was  provided  that 
every  three  hundred  and  ten  hides  should  build  and 
equip  a  war-ship,  and  that  the  fleet  should  gather 
round  the  king  once  in  every  year."  The  law  was 
successfully  carried  out,  and  in  1009  ^thelred  saw 
assembled  at  Sandwich  "  so  many  ships  as  never 
were  before  among  Angle  kin  in  any  king's  day." 

Jward  '^^^  gathering  of  this  fleet  is  remarkable,  not  so 
much  in  our  military  as  in  our  financial  history. 
Up  to  this  time  the  revenue  of  the  crown  had  been 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  icx)8. 

"^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1008,  with   Earle's   note,  pp.  336,  337.    Stubbs, 
Const.  Hist.  i.  124. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       387 

drawn  mainly  from  the  rents  of  its  own  demesne  chap,  vm. 
and  the  royal  dues  collected  in  every  shire  from  The 
thegns  who  held  grants  of  folk-land.  The  "  hoard  " '  conquest 
was  made  up  from  other  sources  of  wealth.  Here  geslioie. 
were  stored  the  actual  jewels  and  "  ornamenta  "  of 
the  crown,  with  such  treasures  as  poured  in  at  the 
death  of  bishop  or  earl  or  thegn.  The  best  horses 
went  to  the  king's  stable ;  into  his  armory  went 
helmet  and  coat  of  mail  and  spear  and  sword  and 
shield.  With  them  passed  into  the  hoard  the  two 
pounds  of  the  dead  thegn  or  the  two  hundred  man- 
cuses  of  the  dead  earl ;  and  beside  the  coin  stood 
heriots  of  price — such  silver  cups  as  those  of  Bishop 
Theodred,  the  silver  vessels  of  Ealdorman  ^thelwold, 
heavy  gold  rings  and  gold-hilted  swords,  costly  dishes, 
spears  twined  with  gold,  palls  of  silk,  and  drinking- 
horns."  There,  too,  came  the  costlier  chattels  for- 
feited by  their  owner's  treason  or  desertion  'in  war ; 
the  "  rings  and  bright  gems  "  of  the  treasure-trove, 
the  "  finds  "  in  mound  or  burial-place,  in  spite  of  spells 
and  dragon  watchers ;  the  bribe  or  fee  for  charter 
or  grant,  for  great  offices  or  bishoprics  ;  the  Jew's 
fine,  the  widow's  marriage  dues." 

^  The  ''Hoard"  (not  yet  the  "Exchequer"),  in  Eadward's  time, 
was  settled  at  Winchester  ("  Qui  debebant  geldum  portare  ad  the- 
saurum  regis  Wintoniae,"  Sim.  Durh.,  Hist.  Eccl.  Dunelm.,  Twys- 
den,  p.  65) ;  in  Dunstan's  day,  as  we  see  from  the  story  of  Eadred's 
death,  it  was  with  the  king  at  Glastonbury  or  elsewhere. 

^  See  instances  in  Kemble,  Sax.  in  Eng.  ii.  99,  etc. 

^  Professor  Stubbs  (Const.  Hist.  i.  142)  groups  royal  revenue — 

{a)  From  land  :  i.  King's  private  estate,  either  boc-land,  or  folk- 
land,  of  which  he  had  taken  leases  of  lives.  2.  The  demesne  of  the 
crown,  its  vills  and  manors  and  tuns  and  boroughs.  3,  Rights  over 
folk-land,  of  feorm-fultum  and  gifts  to  dependants.  "  After  the  reign 
of  ^thelred  this  third  class  of  property  seems  to  have  merged  in 
the  crown  demesne." — Ibid.  143. 


^38       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.      But  a  revenue  of  this  sort  was  wholly  inadequate 
Th^     to  meet  the  new  charges  of  a  government  which  had 

Danish 

Conquest.      (^)  Other  revenue :  i.  Proceeds  of  courts  of  law,  escheats  and  for- 
988^16.  feitures.     2.  Right  of  maintenance  on  progress.    3.  Wreck  and  treas- 
—       ure-trove.    4.  Mines  and  salt-works.     5.  Tolls,  market-dues,  and 
^J^^      port-dues.    6.  Heriots  and  other  semi-feudal  payments. 
land-tax.       ^^  i^^^^^  the  first  division  contributed  little  to  the  hoard.     The 
payments  from  private  or  public  lands  of  the  crown  were  almost 
wholly  in  kind.     Till  the  time  of  Henry  I.  the  tenants  on  royal  de- 
mesne paid  their  dues  in  kind.     Feorm-fuitum  was  not  commuted 
into  a  money-payment  till  after  the  Conquest.     It  is  hard  to  esti- 
mate the  revenue  drawn  from  the  demesnes  of  the  crown,  from  the 
boroughs  in  demesne,  from  lands  falling  in  by  escheat,  whether 
through  treason  and  confiscation  or  through  death  without  heirs, 
from  the  justice-dues  of  courts — whether  royal  or  hundred-courts — 
in  the  royal  demesne  which  the  king  held  as  land-owner,  from  ship- 
money,  from  fultum,  wrecks,  etc.,  market-tolls  and  port-dues,  salt- 
dues,  mines,  treasure-trove,  compositions  for  military  service.     See 
Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  88,  117,  143.     But,  clearly,  all  these  made  a 
much  larger  sum  than  we  commonly  think  of  as  the  royal  revenue 
of  the  time.    See  Freeman,  Norm.  Conq.  v.  437-441, 471. 

Feorm-fultum,  the  tax  for  the  king's  sustentation  as  he  went 
through  his  realm,  was,  in  fact,  a  tax  for  the  "  civil  service,"  as  the 
whole  machinery  of  government  and  administration  passed  with 
him  over  the  country.  The  composition  for  it  varied  greatly.  As 
it  arose  from  what  had  been  the  folk-land,  this  may  vary  with  the 
shire.  Thus  Oxfordshire  paid  feorm  of  three  nights  or  ;^i  50 ;  War- 
wick, £6^  and  thirty-six  sextaries  of  honey ;  Northamptonshire,  feorm 
of  three  nights ;  Dorset  paid  feorm  of  seven  days  and  nights  (cf. 
Ellis,  Introd.  to  Dom.  i.  261,  262,  who  adduces  others).  The  king's 
demesne — exempt  from  Danegeld — paid  the  feorm.  In  Dorset  the 
royal  manors  were  grouped  for  this  purpose  :  three  such  groups  pay 
each  "firma  unius  noctis;"  two,  "dimidia  firma  unius  noctis;"  one 
paid  in  refined  coin — "  hoc  manerium  cum  suis  pertinentibus  reddit 
45  libras  albas."  One  sees  here  a  minute  and  well-organized  ma- 
chinery of  finance. 

Thus,  under  ^thelred,  the  scheme  of  taxation  stands  thus :  The 
royal  demesnes,  including  the  towns,  bear  the  cost  of  the  civil  ser- 
vice, so  far  as  it  had  yet  been  concentrated  round  the  crown.  The 
cost  of  the  military  services  was  borne  directly  by  the  thegns,  who 
contributed  personal  service,  and  whose  demesne  lands  were  in  re- 
turn exempted  from  geld  ;  and  indirectly  by  the  general  land,  which 
was  assessed  on  a  scheme  of  hideage  or  proportionate  value.    "  Ship- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       389 

become  national,  or  the  cost  of  national  defence.  The  chap,  vnr. 
ship-levy  and  the  Danegeld  were  the  first  beginnings  The 
of  a  national  taxation.'  They  were,  in  fact,  the  first  conquest, 
forms  of  that  land-tax  which  constituted  the  most  gsa^ie. 
important  element  in  the  national  revenue  from  the 
days  of  ^thelred  to  the  days  of  the  Georges.  As 
a  national  tax  levied  by  the  Witan  of  all  England, 
and  passing  into  the  hands  of  the  king  of  all  Eng- 
land, this  tax  practically  brought  home  the  national 
idea  as  it  had  never  been  brought  home  before.  Its 
levy,  too,  must  have  necessitated  the  preliminary 
steps  of  a  national  survey,  and  of  some  record  of 
that  survey  like  the  later  Domesday  book,  in  which, 
as  it  would  seem,  the  hide  was  taken  no  longer  as  a 
local  measure,  but  as  a  measure  of  value.  The  levy, 
again,  of  these  taxes  could  only  have  been  made  by 
the  royal  reeve  in  each  shire,  whose  post  was  thus 
raised  to  a  higher  importance,  while  their  payment 
into  the  royal  hoard  implies  that  some  such  admin- 
istrative machinery  as  the  later  exchequer  for  the 
due  receipt  and  acquittal  of  these  sums  was  already 
in  existence,  though  unnoticed  by  our  chroniclers. 

It  is  thus  that  our  financial  system  traces  itself    "^^^^J^ 

J      ^  ^        ^  under 

back  to  the  days  of  ^thelred.     But  its  organization,  ThurkUL 
like  the  attempt  to  re-organize  the  system  of  na- 
tional defence,  came  too  late.      The  country  was 
cowed.     During  the  past  twenty  years  every  shire 
in  Wessex  had  been  harried  again  and  again,  and  if 

money"  may  have  been  a  branch  of  this  land-tax.  The  later  Hus- 
carl-tax  of  Cnut  looks  like  a  diversion  of  the  "  feorm-fultum  "  of  the 
boroughs  on  which  it  fell  to  military  services. 

^  "  It  may  be  questioned  whether  any  money  taxation,  properly  so 
called,  ever  existed  before  the  imposition  of  the  Danegeld  by  ^thel- 
red." — Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.  i.  123. 


290       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP. VIII.. the  rest  of  England  had,  as  yet,  been  spared,  the  pi- 
Th^  rates  had  at  any  rate  once  carried  their  ravages  over 
co^nq'i'e^t.  East  Anglia.  So  utterly  had  the  fyrd  system  broken 
988^16  down  that  in  the  past  year,  when  the  Witan  of  Wes- 
—  sex  was  gathered  together  to  repel  the  Danes,  none 
could  bethink  them  how  "  to  drive  out "  the  stran- 
gers, and,  as  we  have  seen,  a  truce  was  purchased  with 
hard  cash.  The  attempt  to  command  the  s6a  broke 
down  at  the  first  trial  of  the  new  fleet.  A  detach- 
ment of  eighty  ships  sent  to  clear  the  coast  of  Sus- 
sex of  an  English  pirate  '  who  was  harrying  it  was 
dashed  to  pieces  by  a  storm ;  and  when  the  news 
reached  the  main  force  under  the  king'  the  panic 
was  so  great  that  on  the  withdrawal  of  ^^thelred 
the  fleet  went  round  to  London  and  broke  up.  The 
ships  had  hardly  gone  home  when  a  Danish  squad- 
ron appeared  in  the  Thames,  ravaging  Kent,  harry- 
ing the  Thames  valley  as  far  as  Oxford,  and  burn- 
ing that  city.  The  leader  of  this  force  was  Thurkill, 
a  son  of  Strut-Harald,  the  Jarl  of  Zeeland,  and  per- 
haps his  father's  successor  in  this  jarldom,  while  his 
brother,  Sigwald,  was  jarl  at  Jomsborg.  Both  had 
joined  in  the  vow  at  Harald's  funeral  feast;  but 
while  the  bulk  of  the  Jomsborgers  fell  in  the  fight 
with  Jarl  Hakon,  the  two  brothers  returned  un- 
harmed to  Denmark;  and  it  w^as  to  Thurkill  that 
Swein  intrusted  forty  ships  with  some  three  thou- 
sand men  to  carry  on  the  attack  on  England.  Small 
as   the  force  was,  the   measures  taken  to  meet  it 

^  A  charge  brought  against  this  "  Child  Wulfnoth,  the  South  Sax- 
on," by  Eadric's  brother,  Byrhtnoth,  and  the  flight  of  Wulfnoth  with 
his  ships,  show  the  strife  that  was  still  going  on  between  the  nobles 
and  the  "new  men"  about  the  king. — Eng.  Chron.  a.  1009. 

2  The  Chronicle  says,  "  It  was  as  though  all  were  redeless." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


391 


proved    utterly   ineffective.      Even  when   his    fyrdcuAP.viir. 
fronted  the  Danes,  Eadric  hindered  it  from  engag-     The 
ing/  and  the  wisdom  of  his  caution  was  shown  in  congest, 
the  next  year,  10 10,  when   Thurkill's  force  sailed  gggZ^^ig 
round  to  East  Anglia,  and  after  a  stout  fight  with      — 
Ulfcytel  utterly  defeated  its  fyrd.     After  harrying 
East  Anglia  for  three  months,  and  ravaging   the 
whole  country  to  the  "  wild  fens,"  Thurkill  returned 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Thames ;  but  in  a  second  raid 
suddenly    swept    westward    into    Oxfordshire    and 
Buckinghamshire,  and  thence  along  the    Ouse  to 
Bedford ;  a  third  took  the  pirates  inland  as  far  as 
Northampton,  where  they  had  burned  the  town  and 
harried  the  land  before  the  close  of  November ;  and 
thence  passed  over  the   Thames  again  to  plunder 
Wessex  and  Wiltshire  before  returning  at  midwinter 
to  their  ships. 

The  rapidity  of  the  Danish  movements  still,  as  of  ^^.y^'^f  ^ 
old,  baffled  resistance.  "  When  they  were  east,  then 
held  men  the  fyrd  west,  and  when  they  were  at  the 
south,  then  was  our  fyrd  northwards."  The  Witan 
again  gathered  round  -^thelred,  and  devised  how  to 
guard  the  land.  But  "  though  they  devised  some- 
what, that  stood  not  so  much  as  a  month."  The 
want  of  national  unity  could  not  be  remedied  by 
laws,  and  what  most  helped  Thurkill  was  the  growth 
of  provincial  isolation.  All  national  organization 
seemed  to  have  broken  down.'     Eadric  himself  fell 

^  The  Chronicle  says,  "  Ealdorman  Eadric  hindered  it,  as  he  ever 
did,"  but  mentions  no  other  instance.  Florence,  of  course,  greatly 
expands  this  entry.  » 

"  "  At  last  there  was  no  leader  that  would  gather  forces,  but  each 
fled  as  he  best  might ;  nor,  at  the  last,  would  shire  help  shire." — 
Eng.  Chron.  a.  loio. 


^02       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.  back  into  his  own  "  Myrcenarice,"  or  Mercian  realm. 
The     as  it  is  still  significantly  called/  which  had  remained 

cSiTuest.  till  this  last  raid  of  Thurkill's  untouched  by  the  pi- 

gg  ~^g  rates ;  and  when  a  fresh  withdrawal  of  the  Danes 
—  was  purchased  by  a  promise  of  a  yet  larger  tribute,, 
he  seized  the  moment  to  secure  his  own  western 
frontier  against  the  Welsh,  whose  attacks  must  have 
been  roused  by  the  raids  of  the  pirates,  and  carried 
his  ravages  along  the  whole  Welsh  coast  as  far  as 
St.  David's.  But  while  he  was  busy  with  the  Welsh 
^thelred  had  failed  to  pay  the  tribute,  and  Thurkill 
again  swooped  upon  Canterbury,  sacked  the  town, 
and  seized  Archbishop  ^Ifheah  as  a  hostage  for  its 
payment."  Fresh  promises  were  made,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1012  the  Witan  again  met  to  provide  the 
sum.  An  outbreak  of  drunken  wrath,  indeed,  de- 
prived the  Danes  of  their  hostage,  for  on  his  refusal 
to  redeem  himself,  i^lfheah  was  pelted  by  the 
drunken  warriors  with  stones  and  ox-horns  till  one 
more  pitiful  clave  his  head  with  an  axe.  In  spite, 
however,  of  this  brutal  deed  the  great  tribute  was 
paid,  and  the  Danish  fleet  at  last  sailed  away  from 
the  English  coast. 

^fsweiu.  Their  leader,  Thurkill,  however,  remained  with 
forty-five  ships  as  a  mercenary  in  English  pay."  The 
humiliation,  indeed,  to  which  the  realm  had  stooped 
in  the  payment  of  the  great  tribute  had  been  forced 
on  it  by  more  than  its  terror  of  Thurkill's  force,  for 
it  must  have  been  known  now  that  a  far  more  ter- 


^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1007.  «  Ibid.  a.  loii. 

2  Ibid.  a.  1012.  The  Encomium  Emmae  (Langebek),  ii.  475,  repre- 
sents the  desertion  of  Thurkill  and  his  detention  of  Swein's  ships  as 
a  cause  of  Swein's  after-attack. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  393 

rible  attack  under  Swein  himself  was  preparing  incHAP^m. 
the  north.  In  July,  1013,  Swein  appeared  off  the  The 
coast,  and  after  landing  at  Sandwich  suddenly  en-  congest, 
tered  the  H umber.  The  size  and  number  of  his  gggli^ie. 
ships,  the  splendor  of  their  equipment,  the  towers  on 
their  forecastles,  the  lions,  eagles,  and  dragons  of 
gold  and  silver  which  glittered  on  their  topmasts, 
their  brazen  beaks,  the  colors  that  decked  their  keels,' 
showed  that  his  aim  was  no  mere  plunder-raid.  The 
time  had,  in  fact,  come  for  the  conquest  of  England. 
Wessex,  spent  with  the  long  strife,  lay  helpless  and 
inactive,  while  Swein  called  on  the  Danelaw  to  finish 
the  work  which  had  been  so  long  held  in  check  by 
the  vigor  of  the  house  of  -Alfred.  But  even  Alfred 
or  Eadward  would  have  failed  to  check  it  had  it 
been  backed,  as  now,  by  the  armed  force  of  Denmark 
itself.  All  was,  in  fact,  over  when  the  presence  of 
Earl  Uhtred  with  his  Northumbrians  in  Swein's 
camp  announced  that  the  Danelaw  had  risen.  The 
fiction  of  a  single  England,  of  an  English  empire 
throughout  Britain,  which  the  clerks  of  Winchester 
had  dressed  up  in  the  pompous  titles  of  their  char- 
ters, disappeared  like  a  dream.  The  great  ealdor- 
men  again  showed  themselves  in  their  true  light 
as  disintegrating  forces.  The  Northumbrian  earl 
joined  Swein  as  an  independent  power.  The  East- 
Anglian  ealdorman  followed  his  example.  The  Lind- 
sey  folk  and  the  Five  Boroughs,  all  England  north 
of  Watling  Street,  submitted  to  him  at  Gainsbor- 
ough, and  hostages  were  delivered  to  him  from  every 
shire.  Eadric  seems  to  have  withdrawn  into  his 
own  Mercian  ealdormanry  along  the  Severn,  and  to 

*  Encom.  Emmae  (Langebek),  ii.  476. 


1 


294  '^^^  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.  have  stood  apart  from  the  struggle.  From  Em- 
Th^     peror  and  Lord  of  Britain,  ^thelred  saw   himself 

cSTq'liest.  shrink  at  the  hard  touch  of  reality  into  a  King  of 

osslioie  Wessex,  and  of  a  Wessex  helpless  before  the  junction 
—     of  the  rest  of  Britain  with  a  foreign  foe. 

Flight  of  Resistance  was,  in  fact,  impossible.  Master,  with- 
out  a  blow,  of  northern  and  midland  Britam,  Swem 
horsed  his  host,  and  gathering  the  fyrd  of  the  shires 
which  adhered  to  him,  marched  southward.  "  After 
they  came  over  Watling  Street  they  wrought  the 
most  evil  that  any  host  might  do." '  By  Oxford  he 
passed  into  the  heart  of  Wessex,  where  Winchester 
submitted  to  his  arms.  From  Wincheste.r  he  turned 
upon  London,  into  which  /Ethelred  and  Thurkill 
had  thrown  themselves.  But  the  town  made  a  vig- 
orous defence,  and  Swein  was  forced  to  fall  back  to 
Wallingford  for  a  passage  over  the  Thames  to  Bath, 
to  complete  his  work  by  the  reduction  of  Wessex. 
The  submission  of  Winchester  had  carried  with  it 
that  of  the  Central  Provinces,  whose  ealdorman, 
:^lfric,  still  clung  to  the  court.  But  the  Western 
Provinces,  the  Wessex  beyond  Selwood,where  ^^Ifred 
had  rallied  his  men  at  the  last  moment  of  the  fight 
with  Guthrum,  remained  unconquered  under  i^thel- 
maer,  who  a  few  years  back  had  succeeded  ^thel- 
w^eard  as  ealdorman."  But  even  in  this  heart  of 
West -Saxon  life  provincial  was  stronger  than  na- 
tional feeling.  At  Bath,  Swein  was  met  by  ^Ethel- 
maer  and  the  western  thegns ;  and  their  submis- 
sion left  him  lord  of  all  England.  London  itself,  left 
alone  in  its  resistance,  sent  hostages  to  the  Danish 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1013. 

'  Ibid.  a.  1013.    iEthelweard  disappears  from  the  charters  in  999. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       39^ 

king,  while  ^thelred,  after  sending  Emma  and  her  chap,  vm. 
two  boys  to  their  uncle,  Duke  Richard,  took  refuge     The 
in  Thurkills  squadron,  and,  after  hovering  through  congest, 
the  early  winter  off  the  coast,  sailed  in  despair  at  ggglliia 
Christmas-tide  to  join  them  in  Normandy. 

With  the  flight  of  the  king  ended  the  long  effort  ^t'  ''^«'^^-^- 
of  Wessex  to  maintain  her  supremacy  over  Britain. 
It  had,  indeed,  other  issues  little  foreseen  at  the  mo- 
ment, for  it  was  the  Norman  influences  which  from 
this  time  surrounded  the  English  royal  house  that 
prepared  the  way  for  the  presence  of  the  Norman 
in  England  itself,  ^^thelred's  two  boys  were  from 
this  time  dwellers,  not  on  English,  but  on  Nbrman 
soil.  From  childhood  to  manhood  they  grew  up  as 
Normans  among  their  Norman  kinsfolk.  Alfred, 
the  elder  of  them,  was  to  return  to  England  with 
Norman  soldiers  to  claim  his  father's  realm,  to  per- 
ish on  the  ground  he  claimed,  and  to  leave  a  heritage 
of  revenge  among  the  Normans  against  Englishmen 
which  only  slaked  itself  in  the  bloodshed  of  Senlac. 
The  fortunes  of  his  brother  Eadward  were  destined 
to  be  yet  more  fatal  to  England.  Bred  and  shel- 
tered in  the  Norman  land  till  its  temper  and  lan- 
guage became  his  own,  he  came  as  a  Norman  to  the 
English  throne,  and  the  reign  of  the  Normanized  ^ 
Confessor  brought  with  it  as  an  inevitable  necessity  ^ 
the  Norman  conquest  of  England. 

Had  i^thelred  delayed  his  flight  but  for  a  month  Death  of 
the  scene  would  suddenly  have  changed.  At  the 
opening  of  February,  10 14,  Swein  died  suddenly  at 
Gainsborough,  and  his  death  at  once  broke  the  spell 
of  terror  which  had  fallen  on  the  land.  The  Witan 
gathered  to  send  letters  over  sea  to  ^thelred,  bid- 


3q6       the  conquest  of  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.  ding  him  know  that  "  no  lord  was  more  dear  to  them 
Th^  than  their  own  lord,  if  he  would  hold  them  in  right- 
cSiTuest.  lier  wise  than  he  did  aforetime."  The  terms  were 
988lioi6.  accepted.  /Ethelred  sent  Eadmund  with  pledges 
—  that  he  would  be  a  faithful  lord  to  them  and  amend 
all  they  hated ;  "  they  then  established  full  friendship 
by  word  and  pledge  on  either  half,  and  declared  ev- 
ery Danish  king  an  outlaw  from  England  forever." 
Leaving  Emma  and  her  two  children  at  Richard's 
court,  the  king  at  once  put  to  sea,  to  receive  a  joy- 
ous welcome  in  London,  and,  hastily  gathering 
troops,  marched  upon  Gainsborough,  where  the  Dan- 
ish host  had  chosen  Cnut,  Swein's  young  son,  for 
king.  Cnut  was,  in  fact,  already  bargaining  with 
the  men  of  Lindsey  for  aid  in  a  joint  raid  on  the 
south,  but  before  ^thelred's  vigorous  attack  he  for- 
sook Britain  and  sailed  away  to  his  northern  home. 
Cnufs  It  j^ay  be  doubted,  indeed,  whether  his  return  to 
the  north  was  due  as  much  to  the  attack  of  i^thel- 
red  as  to  the  news  that  another  son  of  Swein,  Har- 
ald,  had  already  mounted  the  Danish  throne.  It  is 
said  that  an  arrangement  was  made  between  the 
brothers  by  the  wisdom  of  Thurkill,  who  proposed 
that  Harald  should  rule  in  Denmark  while  Cnut  re- 
turned to  conquer  England.  However  this  may 
have  been,  it  is  certain  Thurkill  quitted  ^thelred 
— it  may  be  this  was  in  itself  a  part  of  the  bargain 
between  the  king  and  his  subjects — and  in  the  com- 
ing struggle  fought  side  by  side  with  his  own  north- 
ern folk.  Cnut's  ambition  can  have  needed  little 
urging  to  the  winning  of  a  land  twice  the  size  of  his 
own  Denmark,  and  vastly  greater  in  wealth  and 
population.     His  vigor  showed  itself  in  the  rapidity 


tnvaston. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^7 

with  which  a  fleet  even  more  numerous  and  splen-cHAP.vm. 
did  than  his  father's  gathered,  in  ioi5,for  a  fresh     The 
attack   on    Britain.      Fortune   already   favored   his  cfn^^t. 
cause.     The   loss  of  Thurkill's  military  force  was  gggl^^g 
not  made  up  by  national  vigor.     The  union  which      — 
had  been  sealed  by  solemn  pact  between  ^thelred 
and  his  Witan  was  already  at  an  end ;  the  English 
court  was  again  torn  with  strife;  and  though  the 
king  himself,  who  w^as  drawing  fast  to  the  death 
which  followed  in  the  coming  year,  could  take  little 
part  in  the  struggle,  the  fight  he  had  fought  against 
the  great  nobles  was  taken  up  fiercely  by  his  son. 
The  contest  between  Eadmund  and  Ealdorman  Ead- 
ric  proved  more  fatal  to  England  than  any  of  its 
predecessors.     Of  the  origin  or  real  nature  of  the 
quarrel  we  know  nothing,  but  Eadmund  seems  to  have 
revolted  against  the  power  which  Eadric  exercised 
over  the  king.     Its  first  outbreak  was  at  the  Wite- 
nagemot  at  Oxford,  where  Eadric  is  said  to  have 
drawn  two  "  chief  thegns  of  the  Seven  Boroughs  " 
into  his  chamber  and  to  have  slain   them.      The 
thegns  may  have  been  supporters  of  Eadmund,  for 
after  a  short  while  Eadmund,  against   his  father's 
will,  took  the  widow  of  one  of  them  to  wife,  seized 
their  lands,  and  made  himself  head  of  their  people.' 

The  quarrel  had  just  broken  out  when  Cnut  ap-  Dissen- 
peared  ravaging  the  Wessex  coast,  and  its  results  at  England. 
once  showed  themselves  in  the  old  fatal  discord  in 
the  face  of  the  national  enemy.     The  host  gathered 
to  meet  Cnut  under  Eadric,  but  no  sooner  had  Ead- 

^  Eng.  Chron.  a.  loi  5.  As  these  lands  were  in  Eadric's  ealdorman- 
ry,  this  may  have  been  an  effort  to  break  up  the  ealdorman  s  power 
at  home ;  but  we  have  no  means  of  deciding  the  matter. 


^^g       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

ciiAP.viir.mund  joined  it  with  forces  from  the  North  than 
The     charges  of  treachery  parted  the  two  leaders,  and  the 

c?nTuest.  Enghsh  army  broke  up  without  any  fight.     A  yet 

988lioi6.  ^'^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^^"^  followed,  ^thelred  must  now 
—  '  have  been  dying,  and  Eadric,  conscious  that  his 
death  would  leave  him  in  the  hands  of  a  king  who 
was  his  avowed  enemy,  saw  no  resource  save  one. 
He  joined  Cnut  with  forty  ships,  and  the  balance  of 
the  war  turned  at  once  in  favor  of  the  Dane.  The 
men  of  Wessex  submitted  to  him,  and  with  the 
opening  of  the  year  1016  his  host  advanced  across 
the  Thames,  ravaging  at  its  will.  It  was  in  vain 
that  Eadmund  gathered  forces  to  oppose  Cnut  and 
Eadric,  for  the  army  was  no  sooner  assembled  than 
it  refused  to  march  without  the  king;  and  when 
i^thelred  joined  his  son,  and  a  more  stringent  sum- 
mons called  men  to  the  royal  standard,  the  gen- 
eral distrust  still  paralyzed  action.  "  It  was  made 
known  to  the  king  that  men  would  betray  him;" 
and  iEthelred  sailed  again  in  terror  to  London, 
while  his  son  fell  back  on  Northumbria  and  sought 
aid  from  his  brother-in-law,  Earl  Uhtred.  Their 
joint  army,  however,  broke  up  as  soon  as  Cnut,  who 
had  been  wasting  eastern  Mercia  unopposed,  ad- 
vanced by  Lincoln  upon  York,  and  while  Uhtred 
and  the  Northumbrians  submitted  to  the  conqueror, 
Eadmund  fled  to  join  his  father  in  London. 

Eadfmmd      It  was  at  this  moment  that  London  first  took  the 

Ironside,    -it  •t-tii.  i.t«i 

leadmg  part  m  English  history  which  it  has  main- 
tained ever  since.  The  city  stood  alone  in  its  loy- 
•  alty  to  the  house  of  Cerdic,  for  almost  all  England, 
from  the  Channel  to  the  Forth,  had  now  bowed  to 
the  Dane.     But  the  spirit  of  its  burghers  remained 


UjfiyBKSIT3 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  ^^^^2TO^T^'^\V> 

unbroken.  As  Cnut  and  Eadric  advanced f ronithe cHApJvin. 
north  to  complete  their  work  by  a  siege  of  the  town,  The 
.^thelred  died  within  its  walls  in  April,  1016;  but  conquest. 
Eadmund  was  at  once  chosen  king  by  those  of  the  gsslioie 
Witan  who  remained  with  him  and  by  the  London-  — 
ers.  Once  crowned,  he  showed  a  temper  worthy  of 
his  line.  Quitting  London  before  its  investment,  he 
hurried  into  Somerset  and  Devon,  the  only  shires 
that  still  clung  to  him,  where  his  presence  roused 
part  at  least  of  the  West  Saxons  from  their  apathy, 
and  again  returned  with  a  small  force  to  the  relief 
of  the  town,  which,  though  girt  by  a  great  trench 
and  repeatedly  attacked,  held  its  assailants  stoutly 
at  bay.  The  news  of  his  advance  forced  Cnut  to 
leave  the  besieging  army  round  London,  and  to 
march  with  an  English  host  under  Eadric  and  two 
other  ealdormen  to  meet  the  king.  Two  indecisive 
engagements  on  the  borders  of  Wiltshire  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  withdrawal  of  both  the  fighting  forces ; 
but,  rapidly  gathering  a  greater  host,  Eadmund  took 
advantage  of  the  opening  left  by  Cnut's  retreat, 
and,  striking  along  the  north  bank  of  the  Thames, 
succeeded  in  his  aim.  London  was  relieved,  and 
the  besiegers  were  driven  to  their  ships  and  beaten 
in  a  sally  at  Brentford.  The  relief,  indeed,  was  only 
for  a  moment;  Eadmund  retreated  again  to  the 
west,  and  Cnut  drew  his  levies  again  round  about 
London.  But  his  renewed  attack  was  as  unsuccess- 
ful as  his  old;  and  the  Danish  host  were  at  last 
forced  by  want  of  supplies  to  break  up  the  siege. 

The  failure  gave  fresh  strength  and  hope  to  Ead-  Assandun. 
mund.     While  Cnut  ravaged  in  Mercia  and  coasted 
back  with  less  spirit  to  the  Medway,  the  young  king 


400       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  VIII.  again  advanced  with  his  forces  from  the  west,  broke 
The  up  the  Danish  quarters  in  Kent,  and  drove  their 
conquest,  host  into  the  Isle  of  Sheppey.  The  change  of  fort- 
988^16  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^  Eadric's  change  of  attitude.  From 
—  the  hour  of  strife  after  Eadmund's  marriage  Ead- 
ric  had  stood  firmly  by  the  Danes.  But  with  the 
progress  of  the  struggle,  and  the  development  of  the 
king's  noble  qualities,  the  family  ties  which  bound 
Eadric  to  his  royal  brother-in-law  regained  their 
power.  It  may  be,  too,  that  Eadric  already  discerned 
Cnut's  jealousy  of  his  influence,  and  that  he  was 
shaken  by  the  murder  of  his  brother-in-law,  Uhtred 
of  Northumbria,  who  had  been  slain  after  his  sub- 
mission, and  his  earldom  given  to  Eric  the  Norwe- 
gian. Whatever  was  the  ground  of  his  resolve,  king 
and  ealdorman  now  met  at  Aylesford,  and  Eadric 
forsook  Cnut  to  resume  his  place  beside  Eadmund 
Ironside,  as  he  was  now  called  for  his  "  snell  schipe." 
The  accession  of  strength  which  his  junction  gave 
Eadmund  spurred  the  king  to  a  decisive  struggle. 
His  force,  indeed,  had  now  swelled  from  the  "  fyrd  " 
of  a  couple  of  shires,  such  as  fought  at  Pen  and 
Sherstone,  to  a  national  host;  for  Eadric  brought 
him  the  Mercians  even  to  the  Magesactas  of  Here- 
fordshire, while  Ulfcytel  had  joined  him  with  the 
East  Anglians,  who  had  already  exchanged  such 
hard  blows  with  the  Danes  at  Maldon.  Eadmund 
marched  resolutely  on  Cnut's  army,  which  had 
crossed  the  Thames  and  was  slowly  withdrawing 
through  Essex.  He  forced  it  to  engage  at  Assan- 
dun,  on  a  swampy  field  along  the  Crouch.  The 
fight  was  a  stubborn  one ;  the  sun  set  on  the  still 
struggling  hosts,  but  the  day  went  against  the  Eng- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^qi 

Hsh  army.  Its  loss  was  terrible.  The  two  chiefs  chap.  vm. 
of  East  Anglia,  Ulfcytel  and  ^^thelweard,  the  son  The 
of  yfithelwine,  lay  amidst  a  host  of  dead.  "  All  the  cSi^uest. 
English  nobles  were  slain,"  says  the  chronicler.  The  gs^Iiiie. 
old  jealousies  and  suspicions,  indeed,  raged  even  on  — 
the  battle-field.  The  reconciliation  with  Eadric  had 
been  sullenly  submitted  to  by  Eadmund's  West- 
Saxon  followers,  and  their  ill-will  broke  out  in  a 
charge  that  Eadric  and  his  men  were  the  first  to  fly 
from  the  field  of  Assandun.  But  in  spite  of  these 
charges  of  treason,  it  was  Eadric  who  was  now  Ead- 
mund's only  hope.  The  king  fell  back  with  the 
ealdorman  on  the  Severn,  pursued  by  Cnut  as  soon 
as  he  learned  the  line  of  his  retreat,  and  it  was  by 
Eadric's  interposition  that  further  conflict  was 
averted.  Pledges  and  oaths  were  given  by  the  two 
rivals  to  each  other  in  the  Isle  of  Olney  in  the 
Severn  by  Deerhurst,  and  the  realm  was  divided  be- 
tween the  English  and  the  Danish  leaders  as  in 
i^  If  red's  day,  Wessex  and  the  English  Mercia  re- 
maining to  Eadmund.'  But  the  strain  and  failure 
of  his  seven  months'  reign  proved  fatal  to  the  young 
king.  He  shared,  no  doubt,  the  weak  constitution 
of  his  race,  and  at  the  close  of  November  his  body 
was  borne  to  Glastonbury  to  lie  beside  his  grand- 
father Eadgar. 

*  The  Encomium  and  Florence  of  Worcester  make  Cnut  fall  back 
on  London ;  and  Henry  of  Huntingdon  says,  "  Lundoniam  et  scep- 
tra  cepit  regalia,"  p.  185  (ed.  Arnold). 

26 


of  Cunt. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    REIGN    OF    CNUT. 
1016-1035. 

T/iej-uie  With  the  death  of  Eadmund  the  whole  aspect  of 
English  affairs  suddenly  changed.  The  land  which 
had  seemed  under  ^^thelred  but  a  bundle  of  isolated 
shires,  and  whose  fortunes  had  been  the  sport  of 
warring  ealdormen,  became  a  great  and  tranquil 
nation,  owning  from  end  to  end  the  supremacy  of 
the  crown.  The  secret  of  the  change  lay  in  more 
than  the  exhaustion  and  the  passion  for  rest  which 
always  follow  a  period  of  weary  strife;  it  was  that 
the  country  now  found  itself  in  the  hands  of  a  great 
ruler.  Cnut  was  still  in  the  first  flush  of  youth,  for 
he  was  but  twenty-two  when  the  death  of  his  rival 
left  him  unchallenged  king  of  all  England,  and  his 
temper,  so  far  as  it  had  yet  been  seen,  promised 
little  more  than  a  brutal  conqueror.  Quick  in 
seizing  the  decisive  point  of  attack  in  his  siege  of 
London,  and  stubborn  in  holding  it,  he  had  proved 
himself,  indeed,  a  born  general,  as  great  on  the  battle- 
field as  in  the  plan  of  his  campaign.  But  the  skill 
and  bravery  of  the  Northman  seemed  linked  in  him 
to  the  Northman's  ruthlessness.  Men  remembered 
the  pitiless  cruelty  which  was  so  long  to  sully  his 
greatness,  when  three  years  before,  in  his  retreat 
from  Gainsborough,  he  had  mutilated  and  set  ashore 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^q^ 

the  hostages  whom  Swein  had  taken  to  secure  the  chap.ix. 
loyalty  of  Englishmen.      And  in  the  first  months     The 
of  his  rule  the  same  stern  temper  was  shown  in  the  ^^ut.^' 
measures    by    which    his    authority    was    secured.  ^^,^^^^3^ 
Policy,  indeed,  had  its  share  with  cruelty  in  the     — 
blood-shedding  with  which  the  reign  opened.     The 
new  king's  hand  fell  heavily  on   the  great  nobles 
whose  strife  had  been  the  weakness  of  the  crown. 
The  two  ealdormen  of  East  Anglia  lay  dead  at  As- 
sandun.     The  sons-in-law  of  i^thelred  who  held 
north  and  middle   England  in  their  hands  met  a 
like  fate;  for  a  murder  rid  Cnut  of  Uhtred,  the  Eal- 
dorman   of   Northumbria,  while   Eadric  of   Mercia, 
whom  the  division  of  the  realm  had  left  all  power- 
ful, was  summoned  to  the  court  at  Eadmund's  death, 
and  fell  by  an  axe-blow  at  the  king's  signal.     Before 
the  year  was  out,  three  other  nobles  of  dangerous 
rank  and  position  had  been  condemned  and  slain  at 
London. 

England,  indeed,  lay  crushed  and  helpless  under  ^'^ 
the  rule  of  its  foreign  master;  for  if  Mercia  was 
placed  after  Eadric's  death  in  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
lish ealdorman  Leofwine,  Northumbria  was  given 
to  the  Norwegian  Eric,  and  East  Anglia  to  the  Dane 
Thurkill,  while  Wessex  was  held  by  the  conqueror 
himself.  Nor  was  Cnut  less  ruthless  in  the  steps 
by  which  he  secured  his  throne  against  the  House 
of  Cerdic.  Murder  removed  a  brother  of  Eadmund 
Ironside,  while  Eadmund's  children  were  hunted 
into  Hungary  by  his  pitiless  hate.  But  the  removal 
of  these  rivals  still  left  Cnut  uneasy  on  his  throne. 
/Ethelred's  two  sons  by  his  marriage  with  Emma, 
i^lfred   and    Eadward,  had    remained    with    their 


.QA  ^^^  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  mother  at  the  court  of  Rouen ;  and   Richard  the 
m     Good,  hampered  though  he  was  with  border  wars, 

^cnut.°'  was  too  dangerous  a  foe  to  neglect.     The  young 

.mZTn^'i  Normans  who,  weary  of  peace  and  order,  were  just 
— •  now  following  Roger  de  Toesny  to  bpam  for  a  blow 
at  the  Moslem,  would  as  soon  have  followed  him  to 
England  to  strike  a  blow  for  their  duke's  nephews. 
But  Cnut  matched  the  marriage  policy  of  ^thelred 
with  a  marriage  policy  of  his  own.  Young  as  he 
was,  he  was,  perhaps,  already  father  by  an  earlier 
wife  of  two  children,  Swein  and  Harald ;  but  these 
with  their  mother  were  set  aside,  and  the  king 
sought  for  wife  ^^thelred  s  widow  and  the  mother 
of  his  only  rivals,  Emma  herself.  Emma  was  ten 
years  older  than  her  new  wooer,  but  her  consent 
seems  to  have  been  quickly  given,  and  her  brother, 
the  Norman  duke,  would  naturally  see  in  this  new 
alliance  the  advantage  he  had  seen  in  the  old. 
n^         With  the  murder  of  Eadric  and  the  marriage  of 

cw^«^j/.  Emma  all  danger  of  a  disputed  throne  was  at  an 
end ;  and  with  the  passing  away  of  his  dread,  the 
nobler  and  grander  features  of  Cnut's  temper  were 
to  develop  themselves.  The  conqueror  rose  sud- 
denly into  a  wise  and  temperate  king.  In  nothing 
did  his  greatness  show  itself  more  clearly  than  in 
his  anxiety  to  obliterate  from  men's  minds  the  for- 
eign character  of  his  rule.  At  first  sight,  indeed, 
his  triumph  appeared  to  be  a  crowning  of  the  long 
effort  which  the  Northmen  had  been  making  for 
two  hundred  years  to  win  Britain  for  their  own ;  for 
in  spite  of  Alfred's  struggle  and  of  the  victories  of 
his  sons,  it  seemed  as  though  a  Danish  conquest 
and  the  rule  of  a  Danish  king  had  won  the  land  for 


.    THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  405 

the  Dane.  It  would  be  hard  to  overrate  the  results  chap,  ix. 
of  such  a  winning.  England  would  have  been  torn  The 
from  all  union  with  western  Christendom ;  it  would  c^t° 
have  sunk  into  one  of  the  Scandinavian  realms ;  j^Q^^g^ 
and  its  fortunes  would  have  been  linked  with  those  — 
of  northern  Europe.  Nor  would  the  results  of  such 
a  change  have  been  simply  political ;  for  the  country 
would  have  been  cut  off  from  the  enlightenment 
and  civilization  which  its  actual  relations  with  the 
west  were  slowly  introducing,  while  Scandinavia, 
whose  lands  were  even  now  hardly  emerging  from 
barbarism,  had  no  new  element  of  progress  to  offer. 
But  what  might  have  been  possible  a  hundred  years 
before  was  impossible  now.  The  success  of  the 
Dane  had,  in  fact,  come  too  late.  Had  Alfred 
failed  to  arrest  Guthrum's  conquest  our  whole  his- 
tory might  have  changed.  In  spite  of  its  union 
under  Ecgberht,  England  was  then  but  a  mass  of 
isolated  kingdoms  without  national  consciousness  or 
national  cohesion.  Once  at  the  Northman's  feet, 
there  was  little  to  prevent  it  from  becoming  a  North- 
man's land,  like  its  own  Danelaw  or  like  the  Nor- 
mandy at  the  mouth  of  Seine,  a  land  where  the  bulk 
of  the  ruling  class  would  have  been  Scandinavians, 
and  whose  local  position  would  have  made  possible, 
what  local  position  made  impossible  for  Normandy, 
that  it  should  be  linked  politically  with  the  Scandi- 
navian realm.  But  what  might  have  been  in  Al- 
fred's day  could  no  longer  be  now.  The  work  of  a 
hundred  years  had  made  the  country  a  single  Eng- 
land. The  long  war  had  kindled  a  national  con- 
sciousness, and  had  brought  about  a  national  union, 
which  no  defeat  could  undo.     The  victories  and  the 


4o6       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  . 

CHAP.  IX.  greatness  of  the  house  of  Alfred  had  begotten  a 

Thi     pride  in  the   English  name,  while  the  peace  and 

^cfut.°^  prosperity  of  reigns  Hke  those  of  ^thelstan  or  Ead- 

loieToss  §^^  ^^^  raised  the  land  to  a  new  wealth,  a  new  in- 

—     dustrial  energy.     Political  feuds  might  lay  such  a 

land  at  the  feet  of  a  Scandinavian  ruler,  but  it  was 

impossible  that  it  could  henceforth   live  a  merely 

Scandinavian  life. 

Ji^  The  conditions,  too,  under  which  a  nation  loses 

character.  .  ,  ,  .  i         .  i  rr^-. 

its  older  identity  were  no  longer  present.  The 
social  and  political  traditions  of  the  English  people 
were  henceforth  in  no  danger  of  being  merged  and 
lost  in  the  customs  of  its  conquerors.  Had  the 
pirates  won  a  hundred  years  back,  their  settlement 
in  England  would  have  been  an  element  of  the  first 
importance  in  determining  its  political  character. 
The  earlier  Danish  conquerors  were  colonists  as 
well  as  conquerors,  and  settlers  in  the  lands  they 
won.  But  the  old  period  of  dispersion,  of  wander- 
ing, of  colonization,  was  over  for  the  Scandinavian 
peoples.  Their  revolutions  at  home  had  built  up 
the  petty  realms  of  the  North  into  great  monarchies, 
whose  military  force  had  been  shown  in  the  con- 
quest of  England.  But  with  these  revolutions  the 
migration  and  settlement  of  the  sea-rovers  had 
ceased.  The  colonists  of  the  Danelaw  had  been 
fairly  absorbed  in  the  English  people,  and  Cnut's 
conquest  brought  no  new  settlers.  Guthrum  was 
the  head  of  a  host  which  settled  on  the  soil  which 
Guthrum  won.  Cnut  was  the  general  of  an  army 
which  sailed  back  again  homewards  when  its  war 
work  was  done. 
Its  results.      x]-ie  rcsult  of  the  Danish  conquest  was,  in  fact, 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       407 

the  very  reverse  of  what  it  seemed  destined  to  be.  chap^ix. 
It  was  not  Scandinavia  that  drew  England  to  it,  it     The 
was  England  that  was  brought  to  wield  a  new  in-    c^t.° 
fluence   over   Scandinavia.      The   North   was  gov-^Qj^gg 
erned  by  orders  from  Winchester.     Cnut's  northern     — 
realms  sank  into  under-kingdoms,  ruled  by  under- 
kings ;  Denmark  by  one  of  his  young  sons,  Norway 
in   later  days   by   another.     It  was   with    English 
troops  that  Cnut  sailed  at  long  intervals  to  repress 
revolt  in  the  northern  seas,  to  fight  the  Wends,  to 
annex  Norway  to  his  Danish  realm.     It  was  by  de- 
spatching English  bishops  and  English  preachers  to 
the  north  that  he  pushed  on  the  work  of  its  civili- 
zation  and  *  its   conversion   to    Christianity.      The 
Danes  who  remained  with  the  king  in    England 
held  only  subordinate  offices.      Even  those  whom 
he  had  rewarded  with  high  rank  in  the  first  flush  of 
victory  were  gradually  set  aside  for  men  of  English 
blood.     Thurkill  was  driven  from  the  land  only  four 
years  after  he  had  entered  on  his  earldom  of  East 
Anglia ; '  Cnut's  nephew,  Hakon,  was  sent  to  rule  in 
Norway ; ""  while  of  his  two  brothers-in-law,  one.  Earl 
Ulf,  quitted  England  to  bear  rule  in  Denmark,'  and 
a  second.  Earl  Eric,  was  stripped  of  his  power  in 
Northumbria  and  banished  from  the  realm." 

Cnut  w^as  himself  the  most  prominent  sign  of  the  TAe  poiky 
influence  of  England   on    its    Danish  conquerors. 
With  the  instinct  of  genius,  the  young  king  from  al- 
most the  first  moment  of  his  reign  cast  off  the  Dane 

'  In  I02I.    Eng.  Chron.— (A.  S.  G.)  ""  In  1029.— (A.  S.  G.) 

=*  Probably  in  1019.— (A.  S.  G.) 

*  The  last  charter  signed  by  Eric  is  in  1023.    Cod.  Dip.  1239. — 
(A.S.G.) 


.o8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  to  stand  before  his  people  as  an  English  ruler. 
The  Fresh  from  the  bloodshed  of  Assandun,  fresh  from 
^touJ'  the  brutal  murders  which  secured  his  throne,  Cnut 
1016^36  threw  himself  on  the  loyalty  of  his  English  subjects. 
—  Of  the  fleet  and  host  which  had  brought  England 
to  his  feet,  he  kept  but  forty  ships  and  a  few  thou- 
sands of  huscarls,  a  paid  bodyguard  which  was 
strong  enough  to  check  isolated  disaffection,  but 
helpless  against  a  national  revolt.  By  the  summons 
of  the  bishops,  ealdormen,  and  thegns  to  a  great  as- 
sembly on  Eadmund's  death,  he  showed  that  his  au- 
thority was  henceforth  to  rest,  not  on  force  of  arms, 
but  on  law  and  custom.  The  solemn  choice  and 
crowning  of  Cnut  at  London  stamped  him  in  the 
eyes  of  the  people  at  large  as  an  English  king  rather 
than  a  foreign  master;  while  his  formal  renewal  of 
Eadgar's  laws  in  a  Witenagemot  at  Oxford  marked 
his  resolve  to  rule  in  English  fashion.  How  com- 
pletely, indeed,  he  had  already  identified  himself  with 
his  new  English  realm,  we  see  from  his  relations 
with  his  Danish  kingdom.'  If  he  visited  it  during 
the  winter  of  1019-20,  it  was  but  to  make  such  ar- 
rangements as  left  Denmark  practically  a  sub-king- 
dom, whose  interests  were  subordinated  to  those  of 
England.  Jarl  Ulf,  who  was  bound  to  the  throne 
by  his  marriage  with  the  king's  sister  Estrith,"  was 
placed  as  governor  over  Cnut's  hereditary  kingdom, 
which,  henceforth,  saw  itself  ruled  by  orders  from  a 
king  transformed  from  a  Dane  into  an  Englishman, 

*  Denmark  probably  passed  to  Cnut  little  more  than  a  year  after 
his  coronation  as  king  of  the  English  if  his  brother  Harald  died 
about  1018.     Dahlmann,  Gesch.  v.  Dannemark,  i.  105.— (A.  S.  G.) 

^  This  cannot  have  been  later  than  1019,  as  the  age  of  Swein  Es- 
trithson  shows.     Dahlmann,  Gesch.  v.  Dannemark. — (A.  S.  G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  409 

and  reigning  at  Winchester.     With  the  early  spring  chap,  ix. 
Cnut  was  back  in  England,  and,  save  for  this  and     The 
perhaps  one  other  brief  absence,  the  first  eight  years    caat.° 
of  his  reign  seem  to  have  been  spent  in  the  settle- ^^^^35 
ment  of  English  affairs.  — 

The  pledsre  he  grave  at  the  outset  of  his  reisjn  that  ^''  s*^- 
he  would  rule  after  Eadgar's  law,  that  he  would  be 
true — in  modern  phrase — to  the  traditional  consti- 
tution and  usages  of  the  realm,  was  religiously  ob- 
served. The  laws  he  enacted  later  followed  those 
of  his  predecessors.  The  structure  of  government, 
the  control  of  the  Witan,  the  rule  of  ealdorman  and 
bishop,  the  jurisdiction  of  shire-moot  and  hundred- 
moot  and  town -moot,  remained  unchanged.  The 
royal  progresses  were  diligently  carried  on,  when 
the  king,  with  his  following  of  counsellors  and 
scribes,  administered  justice  and  redressed  wrong 
as  Eadgar  and  y^lfred  had  done  before  him.  The 
old  organization  of  the  country,  too,  was  gradually 
restored,  and  the  more  galling  marks  of  foreign  rule 
done  away.  Englishmen  were  set  over  the  great 
earldoms ;  and  even  the  traditional  connections  of 
the  ruling  houses  were  respected.  The  new  Earl  of 
Mercia,  Leofvvine,  had  before  been  ealdorman  of  the 
Mercian  district  of  the  Hwiccas,  and  was  succeeded 
in  this  post  by  his  son  Leofric ;  and  when  Eric,  the 
Norwegian,  was  driven  into  exile,  Eadwulf,  a  brother 
of  the  murdered  ealdorman  Uhtred,  was  suffered  to 
hold  the  hereditary  possession  of  his  house  as  Earl 
of  Northumbria.  W'essex  remained  for  a  time  the 
special  district  of  the  king.  But  when,  in  1020,  pos- 
sibly as  a  result  of  the  addition  of  the  Danish  mon- 
archy to  his  English  realm,  and  the  administrative 


.  jQ       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  difficulties  which  this  brought  about,  Cnut  formed  it 
Th^     into  an  earldom,  it  was  the  English  Godwine  whom 

""cnuV*  he  chose  for  its  ruler. 

101&T035       'P^om  the  outset  of  his  reign  the  king  had  shown 
—    '  favor  to  Godwine,  a  thegn  of  West-Saxon  blood,  but 

God7vwe.  ^YiQSQ  parentage  and  rank  are  utterly  unknown. 
The  tradition  of  a  humble  origin,  and  his  position 
at  the  court,  show  that  Cnut  was  imitating  ^thel- 
red's  policy  in  raising  "  new  men  "  to  high  place  in 
the  royal  councils.  But  whatever  may  have  been 
his  early  rank,  the  ability  Godwine  showed  both  in 
the  field  and  at  the  council-board,  his  eloquence,  his 
pleasant  and  ready  temper,  and  his  laborious  indus- 
try, were  soon  rewarded  with  the  hand  of  Gytha,  the 
sister  of  Jarl  Ulf,  who  was  himself  wedded  to  the  sis- 
ter of  Cnut  Such  an  alliance  brought  the  new  fa- 
vorite near  to  the  throne  itself ;  but  it  was  the  prel- 
ude to  yet  greater  honors.  From  1020  he  became 
the  chief  councillor  of  the  king;  he  held  an  impor- 
tant office  as  governor  of  the  realm  in  Cnut's  absence 
during  the  wars  in  the  north,  and  he  probably  pos- 
sessed the  earldom  of  Wessex,  with  which  w^e  find 
him  invested  at  Cnut's  death.  By  that  time,  as  his 
signatures  show,  he  ranked  first  among  the  English 
nobles,  and  before  even  the  kinsmen  of  the  king, 
while  his  wealth  was  enormous  and  his  possessions 
extended  over  nearly  every  shire  of  southern  and 
Jb  central  England. 

,J^^^         The  history  of  Eno^land,  in  fact,  under  its  Danish 

ealdormeii.  -^  nii  ri  •• 

conquerors  was  really  a  development  of  those  insti- 
tutions, whether  administrative,  fiscal,  or  judicial, 
which  had  been  growing  into  shape  under  its  West- 
Saxon  kings.     The  conquest  brought  no  violent  in- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^n 

terruption  to  this  development ;  rather,  by  the  social  chap,  ix. 
and  political  revolution  it  wrought,  it  enabled  the     The 
conqueror  to  carry  out  the  work  of  his  predecessors    cnut° 
more  rapidly  and  completely  than  would  have  been  loie^ioss 
possible  without  so  great  a  shock.      In  the  local      — 
organization  of  the  realm  the  circumstances  of  Cnut's 
conquest. left  him  no  choice  but  to  carry  out  in  its 
entirety  that  change  in  the  character  of  the  great 
provincial  governments  which  had  been  attempted 
by  ^thelred  in  the  case  of   Mercia.     ^thelred's 
policy  had  implied  the  breaking-down   of  the  tra- 
ditional West-Saxon  system  of  the  government  of 
these  dependencies  by  men  of  royal  blood,  and  the 
appointment  of  ordinary  delegates   of  the  crown. 
Under  Cnut  this  system  was  rapidly  extended.    The 
ealdormanries  were  changed  into  earldoms  and  the 
earls  into   pure  nominees  and  dependants  of  the 
crown,  a  transformation  which  was  marked  by  their 
summary  displacement   and   replacement   in    their 
posts ;  and  the  policy  of  ^thelred,  adopted  first  by 
his  Danish  successor,  was  finally  made  the  basis  of 
the  system  of  the  Norman  conqueror. 

The  administrative  system,  too,  had  been  taking  "fjl^'JIJ^ 
new  form  under  i^thelred,  and  the  stormy  character  /n://^. 
of  his  reign  had  shown  the  difficulties  that  attended 
the  change.  In  his  youth,  indeed,  when  little  alter- 
ation seems  to  have  been  made,  government  was  still 
in  the  hands  of  one  of  the  great  ealdormen,  and  even 
after  the  king  had  arrived  at  full  power.  Archbishop 
Sigeric  seems  to  have  retained  something  of  the 
same  position  of  standing  councillor  of  the  realm 
which  Dunstan  had  identified  with  the  office  of  the 
primate.     But  as  years  drew  on  the  appearance  of  a 


412       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  new  officer  at  court,  the  high  thegn,  marked   the 
Th^     beginning  of  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  king  to 

^clut.°'  supersede  the  traditional  and  constitutional  advisers 
1016^035  by  ministers  of  a  more  modern  type  chosen  by  and 
—  dependent  on  himself.  Some  such  modification  had 
become  absolutely  necessary  under  the  conditions 
of  the  new  English  kingdom.  With  the  increasing 
demands  for  government  and  administration  over  so 
wide  an  area,  and  the  growing  complexity  of  Eng- 
land's foreign  relations,  the  need  of  a  continuous 
ministry  in  constant  communication  with  the  king 
made  itself  more  and  more  felt;  and  unpopular  as 
was  the  institution  of  the  head  thegn,  it  became  of 
the  first  importance  from  the  wide  extent  of  the  em- 
pire over  which  Cnut  ruled,  and  the  necessity  of  del- 
egating his  authority  during  any  absence  from  his 
English  dominions.  The  office,  indeed,  was  not  only 
continued  by  Cnut,  but  raised  by  him  into  a  promi- 
nence it  never  afterwards  lost.  The  transformation 
of  the  head  thegn  into  a  "  Secundarius  Regis  "  in 
the  person  of  Godwine,  marked  a  step  towards  the 
creation  of  the  later  justiciary  and  of  the  ministerial 
system  which  lasted  on  to  the  close  of  the  Angevin 
reigns. 
The         With  the  creation,  however,  of  such  an  officer  the 

kings  '  ' 

chaplains,  systcm  of  Duustau  came  practically  to  an  end.  The 
primate  retained  his  position  as  councillor  of  the 
realm  in  virtue  of  his  representation  of  the  liberties 
of  the  Church  and  of  the  people,  but  his  power  was 
that  of  a  constitutional  check,  not  of  a  minister  of 
the  crown ;  while  the  earls  were  only  summoned  to 
the  three  great  Witenagemots  to  counsel  on  the 
affairs  of  the  realm.     The  ordinary  administration 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  413 

lay,  therefore,  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  king  and  chap,  ix. 
of  his  ministers.  But  for  the  carrying-out  of  the  The 
details  of  government  a  staff  of  secretaries  had  now  cnut. 
become  necessary,  and  there  are  found  from  this  time  ^^^^g^^ 
in  the  king's  chaplains  a  group  of  men,  some  of  — 
whom  were  foreigners,  like  Duduc,  who  may  have 
been  chosen  specially  with  a  view  to  the  transaction 
of  foreign  affairs,  while  others,  like  Stigand-,  were 
Englishmen;  but  all  of  whom  were  clearly  picked 
men,  and,  as  we  see  when  they  appear  as  bishops  in 
later  days,  men  of  ability.  The  reward  for  their 
work  was,  in  most  cases,  an  episcopal  see,  and  from 
now  right  up  to  the  Reformation,  service  at  the  royal 
council-board  became  the  ordinary  road  to  a  bishop- 
ric. It  was  to  this  fact  that  the  English  episcopate 
from  this  time  owed  its  peculiarly  political  character 
and  its  close  relations  to  the  crown,  and  hence  the 
institution  of  the  "  Royal  Chapel "  is  one  of  the  most 
important  landmarks  in  our  ecclesiastical  history. 
But  politically  its  effects  were  far  greater.  Admin- 
istration, indeed,  in  any  true  sense  was  now  for  the 
first  time  made  really  possible  by  the  existence  of  a 
body  of  selected  and  trained  administrators,  con- 
stantly at  work,  and  always  at  the  disposal  of  the 
crown  for  fiscal,  political,  or  judicial  purposes ;  a  body 
which,  reappearing  in  the  justiciary  and  his  ring  of 
assistant  secretaries,  formed  the  nucleus  of  that  per- 
manent royal  council  out  of  which  all  our  judicial 
institutions,  and  to  some  extent  our  Parliament  it- 
self, has  sprung. 

Of  even  greater  moment  than  ^^thelred's  admin-  '^'^xatwu, 
istrative  changes  was  his  fiscal  revolution.     The  es- 
tablishment of  a  land-tax  had  been  attributed  in 


414       '^^^  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^ix.  popular  fancy  to  the  need  of  paying  Danish  tribute, 
The     as  its  name  of  Danegeld  shows.     But  its  continu- 

^cfut°^  ance  from  this  moment,  whether  Danes  were  in  the 

loieToss.  ^^^^  ^^  ^^'  shows  that  the  need  of  meeting  their  de- 
—  mands  had  only  forced  to  the  front  a  financial  meas- 
ure which  had  become  inevitable,  and  which  was 
necessarily  carried  on  under  ^thelred's  successors. 
The  land-tax  thus  imposed  formed  the  chief  resource 
of  the  crown  till  the  time  of  the  Angevins;  and 
though  the  taxation  of  personalty  was  introduced 
by  Henry  II.,  the  land-tax  still  remained  the  main 
basis  of  English  finance  till  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Its  direct  effects  from  the  first 
in  furnishing  the  crown  with  a  large  and  continuous 
revenue  gave  a  new  strength  to  the  monarchy,  while 
its  universal  levy  over  every  hide  in  the  realm  must 
have  strengthened  the  national  feeling. 

AufatUs  ^^  these  two  main  bases  of  the  royal  power,  a 
permanent  administration  and  a  fixed  revenue,  Cnut 
added  a  third  even  more  directly  important  engine 
of  government  in  the  institution  of  the  huscarls. 
The  tendency  to  provincial  isolation,  the  temptation 
of  the  ealdormen  to  sheer  off  into  independent 
princes,  remained  as  strong  as  in  y^thelred's  day. 
But  now  for  the  first  time  the  king  had  an  armed 
force  ready  at  his  call.  The  huscarls,  whom  Cnut 
retained  as  a  bodyguard  when  he  sent  home  the 
bulk  of  his  Danish  host,  three  or  six  thousand  men 
as  they  were,  were  too  few  to  hold  the  land  against 
a  national  revolt.  But  they  were  a  force  strong 
enough  to  repress  local  rebellion ;  they  furnished  a 
disciplined  nucleus  for  the  fyrd  to  gather  round;  in 
the  field  they  gave  the  king  a  new  position  as  gen- 


THE   CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  415 

eral  among  his  warring  lieutenants ;    and  in  more  chap.  ix. 
tranquil  times  they  raised  him  high  above  the  local     The 
governors,  who  had  no  force  save  the  hasty  levy  of  ^caut°' 
shire   and   province   at    their   call.     The   strength  ^^^^3^ 
which  was  given  to  the  French  crown  by  its  "  arch-     : — 
ers"  in  days  long  after,  was  given  to  the  English 
crown  by  the  huscarls.     Continued  by  Cnut's  suc- 
cessors to  the  Norman  Conquest,  imitated  by  the 
Norman  kings  in    the   "paid  knights,"   who   held 
themselves  at  the  king's  call,  it  was  in  great  part  to 
their  existence  that  the  new  tranquillity  which  from 
this  time  characterized  England  must  have  been 
due. 

Still  more  significant  of  Cnut's  temper  than  his  ^f^'"!^ 
development  of  the  existing  civil  organization  of  the  cfmrch, 
realm  were  his  dealings  with  the  Church.  His  aim 
seemed  to  be  not  only  to  wipe  away  the  memory  of 
the  stern  deeds  by  which  he  had  won  his  throne,  but 
to  identify  himself  even  with  the  patriotism  which 
had  withstood  the  stranger.  The  saints  he  honored 
were  saints  who  had  won  martyrdom  at  the  hands  of 
the  Danes.  Eadmund,  of  East  Anglia,  was  the  mar- 
tyr of  the  early  Danish  conquest,  and  Cnut  refound- 
ed  the  abbey  which  had  grown  up  over  his  tomb. 
Archbishop  i^lfheah  was  the  martyr  of  the  later 
Danish  conquest,  when  the  host  of  Thurkill  harried 
the  land,  and  Cnut  followed  the  saint's  body  in  its 
translation  to  Canterbury.'  On  the  hill  of  Assandun 
the  king  built  a  church,"  which  commemorated  alike 
the  men  who  had  fallen  in  fight  for  him  and  those 
who  had  fallen  in  fight  for  Eadmund ;  while  with  a 

1  In  1023.— (A.  S.  G.) 

^  Begun  in  1020,  finished  in  1032. — (A.  S.  G.) 


.l5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  still  more  marked  intent  he  made  his  way  in  later 
The  days  as  a  pilgrim  to  Glastonbury,  that  he  might 
^cfut.°^  spread  a  gorgeous  pall  over  Eadmund's  tomb/  The 
^Qi~Q3g  religious  houses  of  Ely  and  Ramsey,  the  resting- 
— :  places  of  Englishmen  slain  at  Maldon  and  Assandun, 
were  especially  enriched  by  his  gifts ;  and  the  names 
of  Dunstan  and  Eadward  the  Martyr  were  honored 
by  the  anniversaries  he  instituted  in  their  memory. 
Nor  were  these  acts  of  Cnut's  mere  stratagems  to 
break  the  nation's  discontent  at  a  stranger's  rule. 
They  were  the  signs  of  a  settled  policy,  and  of  a 
policy  which  sprang  from  the  temper  of  the  king. 
Scarcely  had  the  Danish  kingdom  fallen  to  him  when 
he  began  to  carry  out  the  same  work  there.  English 
priests  were  sent  to  fill  the  Danish  bishoprics ;  even 
Roeskilde  by  Lethra,  the  old  royal  seat  of  the  first 
Danish  kings,  received  its  bishop  from  England,  con- 
secrated by  an  English  primate.  Indeed,  the  change 
which  had  turned  Normans  into  Frenchmen,  and 
men  of  the  Danelaw  into  Englishmen,  was  seen 
working  with  a  startling  suddenness  in  Cnut  himself. 
He  had  the  Northman's  gift  of  adaptation,  the  gift 
of  absorbing  the  character  and  fashions  of  the  men 
about  him ;  and  in  him  the  change  was  made  the 
easier  by  his  youthfulness.  Within  the  young  king's 
heart,  indeed,  the  wild  passions  of  the  North  slum- 
bered rather  than  died.  In  his  own  fatherland,  on 
his  own  native  seas,  if  Northern  legend  may  be  trust- 
ed, they  leaped  into  fresh  life.  The  Cnut  of  the  Sa- 
gas is  to  the  last  the  Cnut  of  the  w^ars  with  Eadmund, 
vigorous,  unscrupulous,  passionate,  revengeful,  thirsty 
of  blood.     But  the  wild  mood  was  hushed  on  Eng- 

a  j^  1032.— (A.  S.G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^jy 

lish  ground.     The  traditions,  the  songs  which  told  chap,  ix. 
of  him  in  after -time  to  Englishmen,  were  peaceful,     The 
gentle,  even  familiar  in  tone.     "  Merrily  sang  the  ^cnut.° 
monks  in  Ely  as  Cnut  King  rowed  by,"  runs  a  verse  loia^ss 
of  one  of  these  songs  which  has  floated  down  to  us     — 
across  the  ages  to  tell  how  the  music-loving  king 
bade  his  men  row  near  one  of  his  favorite  religious 
houses,  "  Row,  cnihtes,  near  the  land,  and  hear  we 
these  monks  sing." 

Cnut's  greatest  gift  to  his  people  was  that  of  peace.  ^^^^^ 
All  fear  of  the  pirates  was  henceforth  at  an  end.  /^"/^. 
The  Dane  was  no  longer  an  enemy.  Danish  fleets 
no  longer  hung  off  the  coasts.  On  the  contrary,  it 
was  English  ships  and  English  soldiers  who  now  fol- 
lowed Cnut  in  his  Northern  wars.  With  him  began 
the  long  internal  tranquillity  which  was  from  this 
time  to  be  the  special  note  of  our  national  history. 
For  seventeen  years  the  country  rested  in  profound 
repose.  There  were  troubles,  indeed,  in  the  Welsh 
marches;  and  a  raid  of  the  Scots  wrought  evil  in 
Northumbria.  But  with  these  slight  exceptions  the 
land  was  untroubled  from  without.  The  absence  of 
discontent  is  proved  by  the  quiet  of  the  country  dur- 
ing the  long  periods  of  Cnut's  absence  in  the  North 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  reign.  Such  an  internal 
tranquillity  came,  no  doubt,  in  great  measure  from 
the  exhaustion  of  the  country,  from  that  craving  for 
peace  and  order  which  follows  on  long  periods  of 
anarchy,  and  which  gives  a  new  strength  to  the 
crown.  But  the  temper,  the  greatness  of  Cnut,  must 
have  counted  for  much.  The  tendency  to  a  semi- 
feudalism  which  had  bafiled  ^thelred  was  held 
sternly  down.     The  murder  of  Eadric  showed  how 

27 


.jg       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  ruthlessly  Cnut  meant  to  deal  with  any  attempt  at 
Th^  independence,  while  in  the  banishment  of  Eric  and 
^cnut.''^  Thurkill  it  was  seen  that  the  new  earls  held  their 
1016T035.  posts  solely  at  the  king's  will.  The  political  instinct 
—  of  Cnut,  too,  trusted  to  something  more  than  personal 
dread ;  for  in  the  efficiency  of  the  huscarls  he  found 
a  ready  and  irresistible  means  of  enforcing  the  com- 
mon decisions  of  the  government. 
ciiufs  gut  behind  the  material  forces  by  which  the  pow- 
er of  the  crown  was  guarded,  and  breathing  life  into 
the  strict  fulfilment  of  his  pledge  to  rule  according 
to  the  laws  of  the  English  kings,  was  Cnut's  own 
resolve  to  govern  rightly.  In  him,  as  in  Alfred,  we 
are  able  to  reach  to  the  very  heart  of  the  man  by 
the  fortune  which  has  preserved  to  us  the  king's 
own  words.  After  ten  years  of  rule  he  addressed 
his  people  from  the  foreign  land  where  he  was  then 
in  pilgrimage,  in  a  letter  memorable  as  the  first  per- 
sonal address  of  an  English  king  to  Englishmen 
which  has  reached  us,  but  even  more  memorable 
for  the  light  it  throws  on  the  simple  grandeur  of 
his  character  and  the  noble  conception  he  had 
formed  of  kingship.  "  I  have  vowed  to  God  to  lead 
a  right  life  in  all  things,"  he  WTOte,  *'  to  rule  justly 
and  piously  my  realms  and  subjects,  and  to  admin- 
ister just  judgment  to  all.  If,  heretofore,  I  have 
done  aught  beyond  what  was  just,  through  headiness 
or  negligence  of  youth,  I  am  ready  with  God's  help 
to  amend  it  utterly."  No  royal  officer,  either  for 
fear  of  the  king  or  for  favor  to  any,  is  to  consent  to 
injustice :  none  is  to  do  wrong  to  rich  or  poor  "  as 
they  prize  my  friendship  and  their  own  welfare." 
He  especially  denounces  unjust  exactions :  "  I  have 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       419 

no  need  that  money  be  heaped  together  for  me  by  chap^ix. 
unjust  demands."      "  I  have  sent  this  letter  before     The 
me,"  ends  the  young  king — he  was  still  little  more     cnut° 
than  thirty — "  that  all  the  people  of  my  realm  may  loieToss. 
rejoice   in   my  well-doing ;    for  as   you   yourselves 
know,  never  have  I  spared  nor  will  I  spare  to  spend 
myself  and  my  toil  in  what  is  needful  and  good  for 
my  people." 

One  of  the  most  important  results  of  the  long  Oxford. 
peace  under  Cnut,  and  of  the  new  connection  with 
the  Scandinavian  countries  which  was  brought  about 
by  his  rule,  was  the  development  of  English  trade 
and  commerce.  As  yet,  indeed,  the  inland  trade  of 
the  country  was  very  small.  The  rivers  were  its 
roads,  and  it  was  along  the  rivers  that  the  trading 
towns  for  the  most  part  sprang  up.  But  though  the 
Thames  was  already  a  waterway  by  which  London 
could  communicate  with  the  heart  of  England,  no 
town  save  Oxford  had  as  yet  arisen  along  its  course. 
The  name  of  the  place  tells  the  story  of  its  birth. 
At  a  point  where  the  Thames  suddenly  bends  for  a 
while  to  the  south,  and  just  before  its  waters  are 
swollen  by  those  of  the  Cherwell,  a  wide  and  shallow 
reach  of  the  river  offered  a  ford  by  which  the  cat- 
tle-drovers from  Wessex  could  cross  the  stream  and, 
traversing  the  marshy  fields  which  edged  it,  mount 
the  low  slope  of  a  gravel  spit,  between  the  two  rivers, 
that  formed  the  site  of  the  latter  city.  On  this  slope 
a  house  of  secular  canons  had  grown  up,  by  the  close 
of  the  ninth  century,  round  the  tomb  of  a  local  saint, 
Fritheswith  or  Frideswide ;  and  at  the  point  where 
the  road,  reaching  its  summit,  broke  into  three 
branches,  to  run  northward,  eastward,  and  westward, 


420 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


CHAP.  IX.  a  little  town  furnished  the  germ  of  the  future  Ox- 

The     ford.      It  probably  extended  only  over  the  site  of 

^cfuV*  three  of  its  later  parishes— that  of  St.  Martin,  whose 

loieToss.  claims  to  be  the  earliest  of  its  churches  were  con- 

—     firmed  by  its  recognition  as  the  "  city  church,"  and 

by  the  meeting  of  the  Portmannimot  in  its  church- 

EARL-Y    OXFORD. 


Soale  of  Feet 
p         »oo        too        s!>o        no 


yard;'  that  of  St.  Mildred,' whose  name  shows  its 
Mercian  date;  and  the  parish  of  All -Hallows  be- 
tween them ;  while  it  was  linked  to  the  ford  by  a 
thin  line  of  houses,  the  later  Fish   Street,  with  a 

^  A  charter  (Hist.  Mon.  Abingdon,  ed.  Stevenson,  i.  439)  shows 
the  church  to  be  older  than  Cnut's  day. 

"^  The  site  of  this  parish  is  now  covered  by  Lincoln  and 'Exeter  col- 
leges. Mildred,  who  died  towards  the  close  of  the  seventh  century, 
was  niece  of  Wulfhere  of  Mercia,  and  one  of  the  most  noted  of  the 
old  English  saints.— (A.  S.  G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       42 1 

church  of  St.  Aldad,  or  Aldate,  in  the  midst  of  it.  chap,  ix. 
The  Httle  borough  was  probably  extending  its  bounds     The 
to  the  westward  over  the  ground  marked  by  the  ^cnut°' 
parish  of  St.  Ebbe'  when  Alfred  established  his^^^^gg 
mint  there;  and  the  presence  of  a  mint  shows  that     — 
it  was  already  a  place  of  some  importance.     The 
loss  of  London  and  of  the  lower  Thames  valley  in 
the  Danish  wars  had,  in  fact,  made  it  a  border-town 
of  the  Mercian  ealdormanry  after  the  peace  of  Wed- 
more  ;  and  the  mound  upon  which  its  castle-keep 
was  afterwards  reared  may  have  been  among  the 
first  of  those  works  of  fortification  by  which  ^thel- 
red  and  his  lady  held  their  own  against  the  Danes. 
As  from  this  time  it  grew  in  importance  and  wealth, 
Oxford  divided  with  London  the  traffic  along  the 
Thames :  we  catch  our  first  glimpse  of  its  burghers 
when  an  abbot  of  Abingdon,  in  return  for  a  toll  of 
herrings  which   their  barges   paid  in  passing,  con- 
sented to  cut  a  new  channel  for  their  transit." 

What  Oxford  had  become  to  the  trade  of  the  Notung' 
Thames,  Torksey  and  Nottingham  were  becoming 
to  the  trade  of  the  Trent.  Nottingham,  where 
Eadward's  bridge  spanned  the  river,  while  his  two 
mounds  commanded  its  banks,  was  growing  into  im- 
portance not  merely  as  a  point  of  contact  between 
England  and  the  north,  but  as  a  centre  of  internal 
navigation.  The  town  was  still  a  small  one,  with 
but  two  churches,  one  on  either  side  the  river,  and 
its  life  was  purely  industrial,  for  no  abbey  towered 

^  As  Ebbe  was  martyred  in  870,  the  churches  of  her  dedication 
generally  mark  the  revival  under  Alfred  and  his  children ;  and  so 
their  parishes  may  be  assigned  to  this  time. 

'  Hist.  Abingdon  (Stevenson),  i.  481,  "  Nam  illorum  navigium  saepi- 
us  transitum  illic  habebat." 


.22       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  over  its  lanes,  nor  was  the  rock  that  overhung  it 

The     crowned  yet  with  its  castle.     To  keep  open  the  two 

^cnut.°'  highways  by  land  and   by  water   that   intersected 

loieToss.  ^^  this  P^i^t  ^^s  th^  ^^^^  ^^^y  ^^  ^^^  burghers  ; 
—  they  were  bound  to  guard  alike  "  the  water  of  the 
Trent "  and  "  the  foss  and  road  that  leads  to  York." 
A  fine  of  eight  pounds  punished  any  one  who 
ploughed  or  trenched  within  two  perches  of  the 
road,  or  hindered  in  any  way  the  passage  of  boats 
along  the  stream.'  Tolls  for  the  river  traffic  formed 
part  of  the  revenues  of  the  town,  and  the  existence 
of  a  merchant-gild  side  by  side  with  its  cnichten- 
gild  showed  its  trading  activity. 

Gloucester,  jj^  ^|^g  Hchcr  and  busier  valley  of  the  Severn, 
where  fisheries  were  now  of  great  value,  for  at  least 
sixty-five  are  mentioned  in  charters  along  its  course,' 
Gloucester  was  fast  rising  into  importance.  The 
foundation  of  a  nunnery  there  in  68 1  showed  that 
life  had,  even  in  the  seventh  century,  returned  to  the 
ruins  of  the  Roman  Glevum,  and  in  the  time  of 
i^lfred  the  town  was  already  of  sufficient  note  for 
him  to  establish  a  mint  there.  In  later  days  the 
nunnery  gave  place  to  a  college  of  secular  priests, 
and  that  again,  under  Cnut,  to  a  Benedictine  abbey. 
But  besides  its  religious  life,  the  position  of  Glouces- 
ter was  rapidly  giving  to  the  town  an  increasing  po- 
litical importance.  Lying,  as  it  did,  in  the  border- 
land between  the  two  races,  in  a  territory  where  the 
Welsh  blood  and  the  Welsh  tongue  were  still  com- 

^  See  the  description  of  the  town  in  Domesday  Book,  and  its  char- 
ter.— Stubbs,  Select  Charters,  1 59. 

^  There  were  at  least  thirty-three  on  the  Wye.  The  salmon  fish- 
eries of  these  rivers  were  already  leased. — Cod.  Dip.  695. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       423 

mon,  Gloucester  was  destined  in  the  following  reign  chap,  ix. 
to  become  one  of  the  state-towns  of  the  realm.     As     The 
yet,  however,  Worcester,  as  the  dwelling-place  of    cnut.^ 
ealdorman  and  bishop,  retained  its  supremacy ;  and  1016^035. 
the  gift  of  its  market  dues,  wain-shilling  and  load-     — 
penny,  was   the   costliest  among  the  many  boons 
which  ^thelred  and  ^thelflaed  showered  on  Bishop 
Werfrith. 

Small,  however,  as  were  the  beginnings  of  English  (^^^^^t'^- 
trade,  it  had  begun  ;  and  a  survey  of  the  seaports  will 
show  how  much  it  owed  to  the  impulse  of  the  Danes. 
The  port  of  Chester  depended  on  the  trade  with 
Ireland,  which  had  sprung  up  since  the  settlement  of 
the  Northmen  along  the  Irish  coasts.  The  town — 
as  we  know — was  one  of  the  most  recent  in  Britain ; 
for  its  site  had  lain  waste  for  three  hundred  years 
before  ^thelflaed,  in  907,  restored  and  enlarged  its 
Roman  walls,  raised  the  mound  beside  its  bridge, 
and  created  the  new  Chester,  which,  like  its  prede- 
cessor, watched  alike  the  country  to  the  north  and 
the  Welsh  passes  to  the  south  and  westward  of  the 
river.  It  was  probably  to  aid  in  its  repeopling  that 
the  secular  house  of  the  Mercian  saint,  Werburgh,' 
was  founded  in  the  northeastern  quarter  of  the  city, 

*  Indications  of  the  growth  of  population  in  towns  may  be  found 
in  the  provision  of  new  churches,  dedicated  to  saints  in  popular  fa- 
vor at  the  time.  The  conversion  of  the  English  kingdoms  gave  rise 
in  the  seventh  century  to  a  number  of  saints ;  as,  for  example,  St. 
Wilfrid,  St.  Werburgh,  St.  Mildred,  St.  Etheldreda,  etc.  Saints,  such 
as  St.  Swithin,  St.  Eadmund,  and  St.  Ebbe,  in  the  ninth  century, 
marked  the  early  period  of  the  West-Saxon  monarchy,  as  St.  Duns- 
tan  and  St.  ^Ifheah  marked  its  later  period.  The  northern  saints 
of  the  eleventh  century — St.  Olaf  and  St.  Magnus — only  just  pre- 
ceded the  influx  of  Norman  saints  to  whom  so  many  later  churches 
were  dedicated. — (A.  S,  G.) 


424 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


CHAP.  IX.  while  its  security  was  provided  for  by  a  custom  re- 

The '    corded  in  Domesday,  which  bound  every  hide  in  the 

cnut.°   shire  to  furnish  a  man  at  its  town-reeve's  call  to  re- 

1016^35.  P^i^  walls  and  bridge.  The  new  town  probably  grew 
~^     up  by  degrees  over  the  ruins  of  the  old :    St.  Wer- 

EARLY    CHESTER. 


--^— — ^   ScBl«ofTeet  — 


burgh's  house  stood  alone  in  the  northeastern  quar- 
ter, and  the  absence  of  any  older  churches  in  the 
northwestern  makes  it  possible  that  at  first  only  the 
southern  part  of  the  city,  as  was  likely  from  its  neigh- 
borhood to  the  bridge,  was  built  over,  for  here  we 
find  on  either  side  of  the  street  leading  to  the  bridge 
the  churches  of  St.  Martin,  St.  Bridget,  and  St.  Mi- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       425 

chael ;  while  yet  more  to  the  south  the  church  of  St.  char  ix. 
Olaf  pointed,  like  the  twelve  law-men  who  presided     The 
in  its  law-court,  to  a  Danish  settlement,  the  result,     cnut° 
perhaps,  of  a  Danish  occupation  of  the  city  in  the  loie^ioss. 
later  course  of  the  struggle  between  the  Danelaw     — 
and  the  English  kings. 

Chester  lay  in  a  wild  and  half-barbarous  region :  ^^^  t^'^<^<:' 
the  country  round  it,  like  most  of  northern  England,' 
was  almost  destitute  of  wheat  and  grain,"  and  formed 
a  vast  pasture-land,  whose  inhabitants  differed  little 
in  their  mode  of  life  from  their  Welsh  neighbors 
across  the  Dee.  Their  main  food  was  barley-bread 
or  oat-cake.  Only  the  richer  ate  meat,  the  bulk  con- 
tented themselves  with  milk  and  cheese."  But  in 
spite  of  such  a  neighborhood  the  town  grew  fast; 
and  the  legend  which  makes  it  the  scene  of  Ead- 
gar's  triumph,  when  he  was  rowed  upon  the  Dee  by 
vassal  kings,  and  knelt  with  them  about  him  in  the 
church  of  St.  John  without  its  walls,  shows  at  any 
rate  its  importance  in  Dunstan's  day.  Its  position, 
indeed,  w^as  as  valuable  commercially  as  it  was  polit- 
ically ;  and  its  market-place  offered  one  of  the  wild- 
est and  most  picturesque  scenes  of  the  new  commer- 
cial life.  Among  the  piles  of  cheeses  which  then, 
as  now,  formed  the  main  produce  of  the  Cheshire 
plain,  the  piles  of  bannock  and  barley-bread,  and  the 
crates  of  fish  which  the  fish-wives  brought  from  the 
fisheries  of  the  Dee,  its  sturdy  burghers  pushed  their 
way  through  a  motley  crowd,  in  which  the  trader 
from   the   Danish    towns   of   Ireland   strove  in   his 

»  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Pontif.  (Migne),  p.  308. 
'  "  Farris  et  maxime  tritico  inops." — p.  308. 
'  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Pontif.  (Migne),  p.  308. 


426       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  northern   tongue   to   draw  buyers   to  his   gang  of 
The     slaves,  while  the  Welsh  kerne,  wrapped  in  his  blank- 

^St.°^  et,  who  had  driven  across  the  bridge  the  small  and 

1016T035  ^'^^y  c^^t^^  ^^^^  ^^^   native   hills,  chattered  as  he 
—     might  with  the  hardly  less  wild  Cumbrian  from  the 
lands  beyond  the  Ribble. 

BnsfoL  Whatever  part  the  slave-trade  played  in  the  com- 
merce of  Chester,  it  was  the  main  traffic  of  Bristol. 
The  rise  of  Bristol  had  been  probably  as  recent  as 
that  of  its  rival  port  on  the  western  coast;  a  num- 
ber of  coins,*  indeed,  which  witness  to  the  presence 
of  a  mint  here  in  Cnut's  day,  form  the  first  historic 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  town  itself,  though 
the  presence  of  a  parish  of  St.  Mildred  within  its 
bounds  suggests  an  earlier  life  in  Mercian  days. 
The  trade  with  southern  Ireland,  from  which  its 
importance  sprang,  originated  at  any  rate  with  the 
planting  of  Danish  towns  on  the  Irish  coast,  and 
the  rise  of  Bristol  into  commercial  activity  cannot 
have  been  earlier  than  that  of  Dublin  or  Waterford. 
For  a  trade  with  Ireland  the  estuary  of  the  Severn 
was  the  natural  entrepot,  and  the  deep  channel  of 
the  Avon  furnished  a  port  at  that  point  of  the  est- 
uary from  whence  roads  led  most  easily  into  the 
heart  of  Britain.  The  town,  however,  was  still  a 
small  one  in  the  days  of  the  Confessor,"  nor  was  its 

^  Mr.  John  Evans  writes  to  me  that  he  has  in  his  collection  four 
coins  of  Cnut  struck  at  Bristol  by  the  moneyers,  ^gelwine  and 
^Ifwine.  Hildebrand  describes  thirty-two  varieties  of  Cnut's  coins 
struck  at  Bristol' which  are  now  in  the  Stockholm  Museum.  In  the 
same  collection  is  one  coin  of  ^thelred  the  Second,  minted  by 
-^LFPERD  ON  BRIE — ,  of  which  Mr.  Evans  has  also  a  specimen. 
—(A.  S.  G.) 

^  It  was  coupled  with  the  manor  of  Barton  in  a  joint  payment  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       427 

general  traffic  probably  as  yet  of  much  consequence,  char  ix. 
But  nowhere  was  the  slave-trade  so  active.  The  The 
Bristol  burgher  bought  up  men  over  the  whole  face  cnut° 
of  England  for  export  to  Ireland,  where  the  Danes,  ^^^^^3^ 
as  elsewhere,  acted  as  factors  for  the  slave-markets 
of  half  Europe.  Youths  and  maidens  were,  above 
all,  the  object  of  their  search ;  and  in  the  market  of 
the  town  rows  of  both  might  be  seen  chained  and 
roped  together  for  the  mart.  With  a  yet  viler 
greed  the  girls  were  hired  out  for  purposes  of  pros- 
titution as  well  as  of  sale,  and  often  sold  in  a  state 
of  pregnancy.'  It  was  in  vain  that  canon  and  law 
forbade  that  Christian,  guiltless  men  should  be  sold 
out  of  the  land,  and,  above  all,  to  heathen  purchasers, 
or  that  this  prohibition  was  repeated  in  the  laws  of 
Cnut."  It  was  easy,  indeed,  to  evade  such  enact- 
ments. The  man  who  had  been  reduced  to  slavery 
by  sentence  of  law,  or  the  children  who  inherited 
his  taint  of  blood,  could  not  be  held  as  the  guiltless 
persons  mentioned  in  it ;  and  no  English  law  would 
be  made  to  apply  to  slaves  either  purchased  or  tak- 
en in  war  from  the  neighboring  Welsh. 

While  the  trade  with  the  Irish  Ostmen  was  thus  Seaports 
raising  Chester  and    Bristol   into    importance,  \\\^  south  ILst. 
towns  of  the  English  Channel  continued  little  more 
than   fishing   towns.      Exeter,  perhaps,  may    have 
carried  on  some  slight  traffic  wdth  the  land  of  the 
Franks.    The  town  stood  two  miles  above  the  mouth 

a  hundred  and  ten  marks  of  silver  as  "  feorm  "  to  the  royal  excheq- 
uer, as  though  it  had  grown  out  of  this  manor  at  but  a  recent  time 
(see  entry  in  Domesday).  It  seems  as  yet  to  have  been  an  open 
borough  ;  its  castle  was  certainly  of  far  later  date. 

^  Malmesbury,  Vit.  Wulstani,  Angl.  Sacr.  p.  258. 

"  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  377-379- 


^28       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  of  the  Exe,  but  shallow  as  its  channel  seems  nowa- 
Thi^  days,  the  small  craft  of  the  town  could  easily  moor 
^cnuV^  beneath  its  walls,  and  the  part  it  played  in  the  after- 
loieToss  ^^^  w^^^  *^^  Normans  shows  that  it  had  grown  into 
—  a  strong  and  wealthy  place.  But  eastward  of  Exe- 
ter we  see  only  a  trace  of  little  ports  to  which  the 
fisheries  were  beginning  to  give  life.  Of  those  on 
the  Dorsetshire  coast  Wareham  was  the  most  thriv- 
ing ;  it  was  the  shire-town,  with  a  house  for  the  king 
when  he  came  there  on  his  ridings,  a  dwelling  for 
the  shire-reeve,  and  inns  for  all  the  leading  thegns 
of  the  shire ;  but  like  its  fellow  towns  it  had  hardly 
risen  to  the  dignity  of  really  civic  existence,  it  had 
never  bought  its  "  feorm,"  and  each  of  its  burghers 
paid  his  dues  either  directly  or  through  his  lord  to 
the  king's  reeve.  Farther  westward  Hampton  and 
Portsmouth  are  but  names  to  us,  and  it  is  only  when 
we  reach  the  Kentish  coast  that  we  find  a  real  com- 
mercial life  in  Sandwich  and  Dover.  Dover  had 
long  been  the  point  of  passage  for  Gaul ;  and  on 
the  silting  up  of  the  channel  between  Thanet  and 
Kent,  Sandwich  had  risen  from  a  little  hamlet  on 
the  sandy  flats  beside  the  ruined  Richborough,  into 
the  main  port  of  the  Channel.  Its  "butsecarls" 
were  present  in  the  fleets  that  the  kings  gathered 
in  the  channel ;'  its  ferry-dues  and  port-tolls  formed 
a  good  part  of  the  revenue  of  Christ-Church  at  Can- 
terbury, to  which  Cnut  granted  them  in  later  days ;' 

^  In  1009  ^thelred  gathered  his  fleet  there.  Tostig  took  "  butse- 
carls" or  sailors  from  it,  doubtless  as  the  best  mariners  of  the  coast. 

^  Cod.  Dip.  737.  Cnut  grants  to  Christ-Church  the  port  and  all 
the  "exitus"  of  its  waters,  amongst  them  the  right  of  "wreck"  or 
"strand,"  so  far  as  a  man  can  throw  from  a  ship  fully  laden  and 
floating  in  the  river  "  securis  parvula  quam  Angli  vocant  Taper-eax 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       429 

they  were  rich  enough,  indeed,  to  tempt  the  greed  chap.  ix. 
of  his  son,'  and  to  draw  the  two  great  Kentish  ab-     The 
beys  into  a  long  strife  for  their  possession.     But  in    ^ut° 
spite  of  "  the  craft  that  lay  at  its  wharf,"  its  reckoning  ^^^^35 
of  time  by  "  herring-seasons  "  shows  that  Sandwich     — 
was  still  a  fishing  town  rather  than  a  merchant  port. 

Along  the  eastern  coast,  however,  the  trade  with  Trade  of 
the  north,  which  had  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  coast. 
Danish  conquest,  was  now  arousing  commerce  into 
a  far  more  vigorous  life.  "  What  do  you  bring  to 
us.f^"  the  merchant  is  asked  in  an  Old -English 
dialogue.  "  I  bring  skins,  silks,  costly  gems,  and 
gold,"  he  answers,  "  besides  various  garments,  pig- 
ment, wine,  oil,  and  ivory,  with  brass  and  copper 
and  tin,  silver  and  glass,  and  such  like."'      The 

super  terram,"  and  on  the  high  seas  outside  the  harbor  as  far  as 
high-water  mark,  and  beyond  this  the  length  of  a  man's  stature  as 
he  holds  a  sprouting  branch  in  his  hand  and  stretches  it  as  far  out 
as  he  can,  "  tenentis  lignum  quod  Angli  nominant  spreot  et  tenden- 
tis  ante  se  quantum  potest."  All  found  on  this  "strand,"  be  it 
clothes  or  net  or  arms  or  iron  or  gold  or  silver,  went  half  to  the 
finder  and  half  to  the  monks. 

^  Cod.  Dip.  758.  "  Harald  the  king  caused  Sandwich  to  be  rid- 
den about  to  his  own  hand ;  and  he  kept  it  to  himself  well-nigh 
two  herring-seasons."  The  rival  house,  St.  Augustine,  had  a  great 
longing  for  Sandwich,  and  strove  to  buy  it  of  Harald  or  to  make  a 
compromise  with  the  monks  of  Christ-Church.  But  it  was  in  vain 
that  Abbot  ^Ifstan  of  St.  Augustine  lowered  his  demands  even  "  to 
a  third  penny  of  the  tolls,  and  he  to  give  the  convent  (of  Christ- 
Church)  ten  pounds:  they  refused  it  altogether,  and  said  it  was  no 
use  asking.  .  .  .  And  when  he  could  not  get  on  in  this  war,  he  asked 
leave  to  make  a  wharf  over  against  Meldthryth's  acre  opposite  the 
ferry,  but  all  the  convent  decidedly  opposed  this.  .  .  .  The  Abbot 
^Ifstan  set  to  with  a  great  help,  and  let  dig  a  great  canal  at  Hy- 
pelles  fleot,  hoping  that  craft  would  lie  there  just  as  they  did  at 
Sandwich ;  however  he  got  no  good  by  it." 

"^  Quoted  from  MS.  Tib.  A.  3,  in  Sharon  Turner,  Hist.  Anglo-Sax. 
iii.  100. 


.^Q       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  main  trade  with  the  Wash   or  the   Humber  was; 

Th^     probably,  of  rougher  wares  than  these — the  skins 

^cnut.''^  and  ropes  and   ship -masts   which,  at  a  later  day, 

,niJTn«  formed  the  staple  of  the  Baltic  trade  in  the  hands 

1016-1035.  ^  11       1  •  1 

—  of  the  Hanse  Towns,  and,  above  all,  the  iron  and 
steel  that  the  Scandinavian  lands  so  long  supplied 
to  Britain.  The  herring-fishery  in  the  German  Sea 
had  long  been  a  lucrative  branch  of  employment 
among  the  northern  peoples;  and  as  this  was  al- 
ready absorbing  the  boats  of  Dover  and  Sandwich, 
we  cannot  doubt  that  it  formed  as  large  a  part  of 
the  business  of  the  eastern  ports.  With  the  grow- 
ing rigidity  of  the  ecclesiastical  rules  for  fasting  and 
abstinence,  the  supply  of  fish  as  an  article  of  diet 
became  every  day  a  more  important  matter.  The 
inland -fisher  supplied  eels,  haddocks,  minnows,  and 
eel-pouts,  skate  and  lampreys,  from  rivers  and  fish- 
ponds ;  the  sea-fisher  brought  herrings  and  salmon, 
porpoises,  sturgeons,  oysters  and  crabs,  mussels, 
winkles,  cockles,  flounders,  plaice,  and  lobsters,  as 
the  harvest  of  the  sea.'  With  the  whale-fishery  of 
the  northern  ocean,  which  was  to  bring  wealth,  in 
later  days,  to  the  Humber,  the  English  seaman,  if 
we  may  trust  a  representation  of  the  time,  was  too 
timid  to  meddle.  "  Can  you  take  a  whale  ?''  asks 
his  questioner.  "  Many,"  he  answers,  "  take  whales 
without  danger,  and  then  they  get  a  great  price, 
but  I  dare  not,  from  the  fearfulness  of  my  mind." ' 
iissm-  But  Dane  and  Norwes^ian  were  traders  over  a 
yet  wider  field  than  the  northern  seas ; '  their  barks 

^  ^Ifric's  Dialogues  in  the  Cotton  Library  MS.  Tib.  A.  3 ;  quoted 
in  Sharon  Turner,  Hist.  Anglo-Sax.  iii.  20.  ^  Ibid.  22. 

^  As  early  as  Harald  Fair-hair's  time,  his  son,  Biorn,  "ruled  over 


ports. 


THE.  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  ^^i 

entered  the  Mediterranean,  while  the  overland  route  chap.  ix. 
through  Russia  brought  the  silks  and  gold-work  of  The 
Constantinople  and  the  East  to  their  Eastland  cnut° 
traders;  and  the  tempting  list  of  wares  which  the^Q^^g^ 
merchant  describes  in  ^Ifric's  dialogue  may  have 
fairly  represented  what  the  Northmen  brought  to 
their  markets  at  Grimsby  or  York.  The  growth 
of  this  northern  trade,  at  any  rate,  is  shown  by 
the  growth  of  the  ports  along  the  eastern  coast. 
Ipswich  was  becoming  a  considerable  town,  with 
some  five  hundred  houses  and  between  two  and 
three  thousand  inhabitants ;  Dunwich,  too,  though 
even  then  threatened  by  the  sea,  was  growing  fast; 
but  neither  could  vie  in  size  or  wealth  with  Nor- 
wich. Its  site,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Wensum 
with  the  Yare,  at  the  highest  point  to  which  the 
tidal  water  then  penetrated,  could  not  fail  to  call  to 
the  town  population  and  traffic ;  and  the  wealth  and 
daring  of  its  six  or  seven  thousand  inhabitants  soon 
became  proverbial.  Many  of  these  were  probably 
Danes ;  and  the  town  gave  ah  odd  proof  of  its  con- 
nection with  the  Scandinavian  lands  by  paying,  as 
Domesday  tells  us,  among  its  yearly  dues  to  the 
king,  "a  bear,  and  six  dogs  for  the  bear-baiting." 
The  merchants  of  Lincoln  were  also  closely  linked 
with  the  north ;  a  Norwegian  king,  indeed,  on  the 

Westfold,  and  generally  lived  at  Tunsberg,  and  went  but  little  on 
war  expeditions.  Tunsberg  at  that  time  was  much  frequented  by 
merchant-vessels,  both  from  the  Wik  and  the  north  country,  and 
also  from  the  south,  from  Denmark,  and  from  Saxon-land.  King 
Biorn  had  also  merchant-ships  on  voyages  to  other  lands,  by  which 
he  procured  himself  costly  goods,  and  such  things  as  he  thought 
needful,  and  so  his  brothers  called  him  "the  Freightman"  and 
"the  Merchant." — Harald  Fair-hair's  Saga,  Laing,  Sea  Kings,  i.  305. 


.^2       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  eve  of  an  expedition,  could  leave  his  treasure  in  the 
The  hands  of  one  of  them.  No  bishop's  minster  or  earl's 
^cnut.°^  castle  as  yet  crowned  the  hill  -  top  of  Lincoln ;  but 
1016^36  ^^^  increase  of  trade  was  already  drawing  its  long, 
—  steep  street  down  the  slope,  at  whose  foot  the 
Witham  breaks  through  the  upland  to  the  flats  of 
the  Wash.  In  those  flats  Boston  was  growing  up 
round  the  abbey  of  St.  Botulf,  to  depose  Lincoln 
as  Hull  deposed  York,  when  the  increasing  size  of 
vessels  made  the  Witham  and  Ouse  impassable  for 
traffic.  But  as  yet  the  tiny  commerce  needed  only 
vessels  that  drew  little  water ;  and  Lincoln,  wuth  its 
merchant -guild  and  its  twelve  lawmen  ruling  the 
city  sokes,  was  a  mart  of  both  inland  and  outland 
trade.' 
York.  The  centre,  however,  of  the  northern  trade  was 
York.  In  the  days  of  Dunstan'  much  of  its  Roman 
glory  still  lingered  on  in  noble  buildings  and  mas- 
sive' walls,  even  then  crumbling  with  age ;  but  its 
later  fortunes  under  Engle  and  Dane  were  marked 
by  the  mound  which  rose  on  the  tongue  of  land 
at  the  junction  of  Foss  and  Ouse,  a  mound  which 
had  probably  been  raised  in  the  early  Northum- 
brian days  to  command  the  port,  and  on  which  the 
northern  conquerors  of  York  had  planted  a  for- 
tress, whose  demolition  by  ^thelstan  announced  the 
subjection  of  the  Danelaw,'  and  whose  site  is  now 
marked  by  the  ruined  fortress  of  yet  later  days  call- 
ed Clifford's  Tower.     The  city  was  proud  of  its  pop- 

^  "  Emporium  hominum  terra  marique  venientium."— Will.  Malm., 
Gest.  Pontificum  (Hamilton),  p.  312. 
""  Life  of  Oswald  (Raine),  Hist,  of  Church  of  York,  p.  454,  etc. 
^  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  213. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


433 


ulation  and  wealth.  It  boasted  of  thirty  thousand  chap^ix. 
dwellers ;  it  really  contained  some  two  thousand  The  Reign 
houses  and  about  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  a  num-     —  * 

1016-1035. 
EARLY   YORK 


ber  far  beyond  that  of  any  other  English  town  save 
London.'     The  city,  indeed,  now  not  only  filled  the 

*  "  Gaudet  de  multitudine  populorum,  non  minus  virorum  ac  mu- 
lierum,  exceptis  parvulis  et  pubetinis,  quam  xxx.  milia  in  eadem 

28 


434       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  wedge-like  space  between  the  Foss  and  the  Ouse, 
The     but  stretched  to  south-east  and  south-west,  over  both 

^cnut°^  rivers,  in  considerable  suburbs.     Across  the  Ouse 

1016^035  t^ouses  gathered  thickly  round  the  two  churches  of 
—  St.  Mary,  Bishops-hill,  in  the  fabric  of  one  of  which 
we  find  fragments  of  the  Roman  work  with  which 
this  part  of  York  abounds,  while  across  the  Foss  the 
fishers  gathered  in  their  own  Fisher-gate.  A  third 
suburb  along  the  Ouse  is  marked  as  a  Danish 
quarter  by  the  later  church  of  St.  Olaf  and  by 
Siward's  choice  of  a  burial-place  there;  and  here, 
no  doubt,  mainly  centred  the  trade  and  wealth  of 
the  town.' 

London.  Yxovci  the  first  upgrowth  of  commerce,  however, 
the  centre  of  the  whole  trading -life  of  England  was 
London.  Its  early  history  is  lost  in  obscurity.  We 
know  nothing  of  the  circumstances  of  its  conquest, 
of  the  fate  of  its  citizens,  or  of  the  settlement  of  the 
conquerors  within  its  walls.  That  some  such  settle- 
ment had  taken  place,  at  least  as  early  as  the  close 
of  the  seventh  century,  is  plain  from  the  story  of 
Mellitus,  when  placed  as  bishop  within  its  walls'; 
but  it  is  equally  plain  that  the  settlement  was  an 
English  one,  that  the  provincials  had  here,  as  else- 
where, disappeared,  and  that  the  ruin  of  the  city  had 
been  complete.     Had  London  merely  surrendered 

civitate  numerati  sunt." — Life  of  Oswald,  p.  454.  Strictly  con- 
strued, this  would  mean  some  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  dwellers ; 
but  either  number  is  absurd.  Domesday  gives  141 8  houses  for  five 
of  its  "shires"  and  one  "shire"  waste, with  189  for  the  archbishop's 
"shire.'' 

^  "  Inedicibiliter  repleta  est,  et  mercatorum  gazis  locupleta  qui 
undique  adveniunt,  maxime  ex  Danorum  gente." — Life  of  Oswald, 
(Raine),  Hist,  of  Church  of  York,  i.  454. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       435 

to  the  East  Saxons  and  retained  its  older  population  chap.  ix. 
and  municipal  life,  it  is  hard  to  imagine  how,  within  The 
less  than  half  a  century,  its  burghers  could  have  so  cnut.° 
wholly  lost  all  trace  of  Christianity  that  not  even^Qj^g^ 
a  ruined  church,  as  at  Canterbury,  remained  for 
the  use  of  the  Christian  bishop,  and  that  the  first 
care  of  Mellitus  was  to  set  up  a  mission -church 
in  the  midst  of  a  heathen  population.  It  is  even 
harder  to  imagine  how  all  trace  of  the  municipal 
institutions,  to  which  the  Roman  towns  clung  so 
obstinately,  should  have  so  utterly  disappeared. 
But  more  direct  proofs  of  the  wreck  of  the  town 
meet  us  in  the  stray  glimpses  which  we  are  able  to 
get  of  its  earlier  topographical  history.  The  story 
of  early  London  is  not  that  of  a  settled  community 
slowly  putting  off  the  forms  of  Roman  for  those 
of  English  life,  but  of  a  number  of  little  groups 
scattered  here  and  there  over  the  area  within  the 
walls,  each  growing  up  with  its  own  life  and  insti- 
tutions, guilds,  sokes,  religious  houses,  and  the  like, 
and  only  slowly  drawing  together  into  a  municipal 
union  which  remained  weak  and  imperfect  even  at 
the  Norman  conquest. 

Unluckily,  it  is  only  here  and  there  that  we  can  ^^^''h 

Ti  1  iri  I'l  Saxon  set- 

even  dimly  trace  the  growth  of  these  little  commu-  tiement. 
nities.  The  first  which  we  can  clearly  follow  is 
that  of  the  church  and  monastery  of  St.  Paul.  The 
ground  which  ^thelberht  gave  Bishop  Mellitus  for 
his  minster  and  its  accompanying  buildings — ground 
which  formed  the  highest  point  in  the  city,  and 
whose  area  corresponds  with  that  of  the  present  pre- 
cinct of  the  cathedral-church — was  no  doubt  a  spot 
waste  and  uninhabited,  and  thus  formed  part  of  the 


436       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  folk-land  which  was  at  the  king's  disposal/  But  from 
The  other  indications  we  may  gather  that  not  this  spot 
^cnut.°'  only,  but  the  whole  area  about  it,  was  waste  and  un- 
^m^7n'iK  inhabited.  To  the  north  of  St.  Paul's,  for  instance,  the 
—  ground  on  which  St.  M art m  s-le-G rand  was  planted 
seems,  from  the  rise  of  this  great  church  there,  to 
have  been  mainly  open  ground  at  the  eve  of  the 
Norman  conquest ;  while  to  the  westward  it  was  still 
easy  for  the  Franciscans  to  find  room  for  their  set- 
tlement as  late  as  the  thirteenth  century.  The  space 
south  of  the  precincts  was  chiefly  occupied  in  later 
days  by  the  soke  of  Castle  Baynard,  a  fortress  with 
which  the  Norman  kings  bridled  the  city  on  the 
westward,  as  they  bridled  it  to  the  east  with  the 
Tower,"  and  which  was  probably  built,  like  the  Tow- 
er itself,  on  open  ground  which  may  have  been  only 
recently  won  from  the  foreshore  of  the  river.  The 
waste  state  of  the  ground  has  left  its  mark  even 
on  the  little  lane  now  known  as  St.  Benet's,  which 
stretches  along  the  borders  of  this  soke,  from  Paul's 
Chain  to  Paul's  Wharf.  As  one  of  the  first  needs 
for  the  fringe  of  population  which  would  naturally 
grow  up  around  the  precincts  was  that  of  access  to 
the  river,  this  lane  can  hardly  have  been  later  in 
growth  than  the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  and 
formed  a  part  of  the  bishop's  liberty;  but  as  neither 
this  liberty,  nor  the  parish  of  St.  Benet's,  which  ec- 

^  The  bounds  of  the  grant  were  probably  much  the  same  as  those 
of  the  present  precincts,  with  Old  Change  to  the  eastward,  Pater- 
noster Row  to  the  north,  Ave-Maria  Lane  and  Creed  Lane  to  the 
west,  and  Carter  Lane  to  the  south. 

*  The  soke  of  Castle  Baynard  comprised  the  whole  district  round 
the  precincts  of  St.  Paul's,  from  Benet's  Lane  to  the  Wall,  and  north- 
ward as  far  as  Ludgate. 


'y(^    OP  THR  ^ 


:fob.' 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 


437 


clesiastically  represented  it,  extended  much  beyond  char  ix. 
the  lane  itself,  we  may  conjecture  that  it  ran  through     The 
a  district  which  was  at  this  time  unoccupied.  "^cnut°' 

The  settlement  about  St.  Paul's,  however,  was  far^Q^^g^ 
from  bein^  as  early  as  the  asre  of  Mellitus,  for  the  ^  ~:  , 

1        f    1  .      .  .  111  Grmvth  of 

work  01  that  missionary  was  interrupted  by  the  apos-  popuia- 
tasy  of  the  East  Saxons ;  and  it  is  not  till  half  a  cen- 
tury later,  when  London  had  passed  under  the  Mer- 
cian rule,'  that  we  again  find  bishops  settled  there. 
The  most  famous  of  these  is  Erkenwald,"  and  it  is 
to  him  and  his  immediate  successors  that  we  must 
attribute  the  little  ring  of  churches  and  parishes — 
such  as  St.  Augustine,  St.  Gregory,  St.  Benet,  and 
St.  Faith' — which  show  a  growth  of  population  round 
the  precincts  of  the  minster.  The  legend  of  Erken- 
wald  for  the  first  time  brings  us  face  to  face  with 
the  new  burghers  in  their  struggle  with  the  monks 
of  Chertsey  and  the  nuns  of  Barking,  at  whose  house 
he  had  died,  for  the  possession  of  the  sainted  bishop's 
remains.  They  broke  into  the  death-chamber,  runs 
the  legend,  seized  the  corpse,  and  set  it  in  a  wagon, 
drawn  by  oxen,  to  carry  it  to  the  city.  Their  torches, 
however,  were  blown  out  by  a  mighty  storm,  they 
could  not  ford  the  swollen  waters  of  the  Lea,  nor 
find  boats  to  cross  it,  and  a  fresh  strife  rose  over  the 

^  Wulfhere  of  Mercia  sold  its  bishopric  to  Wini  in  666. — Baeda, 
H.  E.  lib.  iii.  c.  7. 

^  Baeda,  H.  E.  lib.  iv.  c.  6.  He  became  bishop  in  675  or  676,  and 
died  about  693. — Stubbs,  article  on  "Erkenwald"  in  Diet.  Christ. 
Biogr.  ii.  178. 

^  The  dedications  to  St.  Augustine  and  St.  Gregory  bear  evidence 
of  close  association  with  the  conversion  of  England.  St.  Benet's 
or  St.  Benedict's  recalls  the  fact  that  it  was  during  Erkenwald's 
episcopate  that  the  Benedictine  rule  first  began  to  make  its  way  in 
England.     St.  Faith  was  a  favorite  early  dedication. — (A.  S.  G.) 


438       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  IX.  remains,  which  only  ended  in  both  parties  praying 
The     for  a  miracle  to  decide  between  them.     At  their 

^cnut.°^  prayers  the  waters  parted  and  suffered  the  wagon  to 

loieToas.  P^ss  through,  the  torches  relighted  themselves,  the 
—  storm  ceased,  and  the  burghers  brought  the  body 
of  their  saint  in  triumph  into  London/  About  the 
same  time,  in  the  reign  of  Wulfhere's  successor, 
iEthelred,  we  catch  the  first  indication  of  a  revival 
of  the  trade  and  foreign  commerce  of  the  town  in 
its  mention  as  a  mart  for  slaves,  and  the  presence 
there  of  merchants  from  Frisia;"  while  towards  the 
close  of  the  seventh  century  its  "  wic  reeve  "  is  men- 
tioned in  the  laws  of  the  Kentish  kings." 

The  Cheap.  If  we  look  for  the  site  of  the  early  community  to 
which  reeve  and  market  and  burgesses  belonged, 
tradition  takes  us  to  the  district  afterwards  known 
as  the  Ward  of  Cheap,  as  the  oldest  part  of  London. 
Nor  is  the  tradition  at  variance  with  the  indications 
of  the  ground  itself.  Nowhere  was  life  so  likely  to 
awake  again  as  along  the  banks  of  the  Walbrook, 
then  and  for  centuries  to  come  a  broad  river-channel, 
between  whose  muddy  banks  the  stream  was  still 
deep  enough  to  float  the  small  boats  used  in  the 
traffic  up  from  the  Thames  to  the  very  edge  of  the 
"  Cheap,"  or  market-place,  at  the  hythe  or  port  which 
tradition  fixed  in  the  modern  Bucklersbury.*     But 

'  We  may  perhaps  find  a  trace  of  Erkenwald  in  the  church  of  All 
Hallows,  Barking,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Tower.  Erkenwald 
was  the  founder  of  the  monastery  at  Barking,  and  the  church  and 
parish  may  mark  the  locality  of  a  soke  or  manor  which  he  had 
granted  to  it.  »  Baeda,  H.  E.  lib.  iv.  c.  22. 

3  Laws  of  Hlothere  and  Eadric— Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  35. 

*  Stow's  London  (ed.  Thoms),  p.  97.  Cheapward  runs  along  the 
Walbrook,  from  Bucklersbury  to  the  Poultry. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       439 

that  the  space  between  this  border  of  the  Cheap  and  chap,  ix. 
the  minster  precincts  was  already  fairly  peopled  by     The 
the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  we  may  gather  from    J^t. 
the  site  of  two  of  the  churches  within  this  area.  loieToss. 
From  the  days  of  Wulfhere  to  those  of  Ecgberht, 
London,  save  for  its  temporary  subjection  to  the 
West -Saxon  rule  by  Ine,  remained  under  the  rule 
of  the  Mercian  kings,  one  of  the  greatest  of  whom, 
Offa,  is  traditionally  said  to  have  occupied-  a  king's 
vill  in  what  must  have  then  been  open  ground  to 
the  north  of  the  little  borough  we  have  been  describ- 
ing, at  a  spot  now  marked  by  St.  Alban's  church  in 
Wood  Street.'     Mildred  was  a  popular  Mercian  saint 
of  the  time ;  and  if  the  two  churches  dedicated  to  her 
in  Bread  Street  and  in  the  Poultry  be,  as  is  likely, 
of  this  date,  they  would  show  that  the  space  between 
the  Cheap  and  the  minster,  from  Fish  Street  on  the 
south  to  our  Cheapside  on  the  north,  had  grown 
into  a  single  borough  before  the  days  of  Ecgberht." 

*  In  Abbot  Paul's  time — 1077-1093 — the  Abbey  of  "St.  Alban's  ac- 
quired "  plures  ecclesias  in  Lundoniis,  quarum  unius  donationem, 
scilicet  Sancti  Albani,  pro  patronatu  alterius,  nescitur  qua  consi- 
deratione  Abbati  Westmonasteriensi  concessit.  Fuit  autem  capella 
regis  Offa,  fundatoris,  cui  fuit  continuum  suum  regale  palatium. 
Sed  incuria  sequacium  et  desidia  omnis  locus  ille,  improba  occu- 
patione  civium  vicinorium,  in  parvum  mansum,  libertatem  tamen 
antiquam  retinentem,  coartatur." — Hist.  Mon.  S.  Albani  (ed.  Riley), 
i.  55.  That  is,  an  old  chapel,  perhaps  of  Offa's  king's -tun,  was 
given  to  St.  Alban's  after  the  conquest,  and  then  made  a  church 
under  the  abbey-saint's  name.  Stow  and  the  ordinary  London 
historians  blunder  wildly  about  this.  A  grant  of  the  last  Mercian 
king,  Burhred,  of  a  "gaziferi  agelluli  in  vico  Lundoniae,  hoc  est  ubi 
nominatur  Ceolmundingchaga,  qui  est  non  longe  from  (sic)  West- 
getum  positus"  (Thorpe,  Diplomatarium,  p.  118),  points  to  some 
dwellings  about  "  Westgate,"  the  "  Newgate"  of  later  days. 

^  That  this  early  London  grew  up  on  ground  from  which  the 
Roman  city  had  practically  disappeared  may  be  inferred  from  the 


.  .Q       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.      The  story  of  the  eastern  half  of  London  is,  in  its 
The     earliest  part,  even  more  obscure  than  the  story  of  the 
^St.°^  western  half.     The  great  central  road  from  Newgate, 
1016^35  which  crossed  Walbrook  at  the   Poultry,  stretches 
r-     thence  through  its  area  to  London  Bridge;  and  a 
Cheap.    Cheap  grew  up,  probably  at  a  very  early  time,  on  the 
southern  side  of  this  road,  the  East-Cheap  of  later 
days,  though  far  smaller  and  less  important  than  the 
Cheap  in  the  west.     But  this  Cheap  must  at  first 
have  stood  almost  isolated ;'  it  was  only  slowly  that 
population  spread  over  the  space  about  it,  and  dwell- 
ings rose  scantily  and  sporadically  along  the  line  of 
communication  which  led  from  the  bridge  over  Wal- 
brook to  the  various  gates,  and  through  these  to  the 
country  beyond.     It  is  thus  as  a  place  of  traffic  that 
London  reappears  in  history.     Its  position,  indeed, 
was  such  that  traffic  could  not  fail  to  re-create  the 
town ;  for,  whether  a  bridge  or  a  ferry  existed  at  this 

change  in  the  main  line  of  communication  which  passed  through 
the  heart  of  each.  This  was  the  road  which  led  from  Newgate  to 
the  bridge.  In  Roman  London  this  seems  to  have  struck  through 
the  city  in  a  direct  line  from  Newgate  to  a  bridge  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  present  Budge  Row.  Of  this  road  the  two  extremities 
survived  in  English  London :  one  from  the  gate  to  the  precincts  of 
St.  Paul,  the  other  in  the  present  Budge  Row.  But  between  these 
points  all  trace  of  it  is  lost.  The  lines  of  the  street  that  ran  through 
the  area  which  it  must  have  traversed  are  not  only  not  in  accord- 
ance with  it,  but  thrown  diagonally  across  it.  It  is  the  same  wher- 
ever we  dig  over  the  site  of  the  ancient  city ;  the  remains  of  Roman 
London  which  we  discover  have  little  or  no  relation  to  the  lines  of 
the  modern  times. 

'  We  see  it,  however,  extending  as  early  as  the  close  of  the  eighth 
century,  when  Offa  (Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  34,  note)  confirms  a  gift 
of  two  brothers  to  the  church  of  S.  Denys  of  a  plot  of  ground  "in 
portu  qui  nuncupatur  Lunden-wick,"  in  which  we  may  probably  see 
the  origin  of  S.  Dionis  Backchurch  at  the  south  end  of  Lime  Street, 
just  to  north  of  the  East-Cheap. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       441 

time/  it  was  here  that  the  traveller  from  Kent  or  chap^ix. 
Gaul  would  still  cross  the  Thames,  and  it  was  from     The 
London  that  the  roads  still  diverged  which,  silent     cnut;° 
and  desolate   as   they  had   become,  furtiished   the^Q^^gg^ 
means  of  communication  to  any  part  of   Britain." 
The  same  advantages  of  site,  in  a  word,  which  had 
so  rapidly  drawn  trade  and  population  to  the  Roman 
Londinium,  would,  though  in  a  less   degree,  draw 
trade  and  population  to  the  English  London." 

Though  its  growth  was  for  a  while  arrested  by  Beoi,i. 
the  early  struggle  with  the  Northmen,  a  new  life  nmnidpai 
began  for  the  city  with  its  conquest  by  Alfred.  '■^^' 
The  most  important  part  of  his  work  was  his  resto- 
ration of  its  walls.  Like  the  rest  of  the  Roman 
town,  the  walls  themselves  had  fallen  into  such  de- 
cay that  they  hardly  formed  any  obstacle  to  an 
assailant ;  and  it  is  thus  that  we  hear  of  no  opposi- 
tion to  its  repeated  occupation  by  the  Danes.  Their 
condition,  indeed,  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the 
very  position  of  the  gates  must  have  become  in 
some  cases  uncertain;  for  the  Bishopsgate  which 
dates  from  this  time  is  considerably  to  the  east  of 
the  Roman  gate  which  it  represented.  The  secu- 
rity, however,  which  was  given  by  these  walls,  the 
new   impulse   derived   from    their    rebuilding,  and 

*  The  first  historical  proof  of  the  existence  of  a  bridge  is  in  Ead- 
gar's  day,  when  a  witch  was  drowned  there.  "Da  nam  man  $aet 
wif,  and  adrencte  hi  aet  Lundenbricge." — Cod.  Dip.  591. 
^  See  Making  of  England,  pp.  103,  104. — (A.  S.  G.) 
'  The  influence  of  the  bishops  on  its  early  development  should 
be  noticed.  Bishop  Theodred,  in  his  will  (Thorpe,  Diplomatarium, 
p.  512),  calls  himself  "bishop  of  the  Lunden-wara,"  and  this  close 
association  of  bishop,  minster,  and  town  is  seen  in  the  gathering  of 
the  folk-moot  at  the  eastern  end  of  S.  Paul's,  summoned  by  its  bell, 
as  well  as  in  the  muster  of  the  citizens  in  arms  at  the  western.. 


.  .2       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^ix.  above  all,  the  peace  and  prosperity  won  by  the  great 
Th^  sovereigns  who  followed  Alfred,  are  seen  in  the 
^cnut.°^  rapid  extension  of  London  through  the  following 
lOieToas  century.  The  "  eight  moneyers "  whom  we  find 
—  allotted  to  London  by  ^thelstan's  laws  show  the 
position  it  already  held  for  wealth  and  importance. 
Under  ^thelstan,  too,  we  find  the  first  document 
which  throws  light  upon  its  municipal  and  commer- 
cial life.'  It  is  the  record  of  a  gild  of  a  hundred 
burghers  who,  with  the  sanction  of  the  king  and 
bishop,  organize  themselves  in  groups  of  three,  each 
with  its  head-man,  the  whole  body  being  united  un- 
der an  ealdorman,  with  definite  provisions  for  com- 
mon meeting  and  common  contributions,  with  a 
view  to  the  enforcement  of  a  rough  police  and  self- 
government.  The  agreement  constituting  this  frith- 
gild  is  drawn  up  by  the  bishops  and  reeves  belong- 
ing to  London,  and  confirmed  by  the  pledges  of  the 
frith-gegildas.  If  this,  as  it  seems,  is  the  act  of  a 
voluntary  association,  we  have  in  it  the  first  indica- 
tion of  the  way  in  which  the  new  London  was  to  be 
formed."  Frith-gilds  such  as  this,  church-sokes  and 
lay-sokes,  were  growing  up  side  by  side  at  various 
points  of  the  area  within  the  walls,  each  with  its 
separate  life  and  jurisdiction,'  but  all  bound  together 

^  The  Judicia  Civitatis  Lundoniae :  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  229  et 
seq. 

^  "  London,  when  it  springs  into  historical  light,  is  a  collection  of 
communities  based  on  the  lordship,  the  parish,  and  the  gild ;  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  similar  coincident  causes  helped 
the  growth  of  such  towns  as  York  and  Exeter." — Stubbs,  Const. 
Hist.  i.  107. 

^  The  twelve  "lawmen,  habentes  sacam  et  socam,"  at  Lincoln, 
Stamford,  and  Cambridge,  show  a  like  organization  in  other  English 
towns.    So  at  York,  "  in  Eboraco  civitate,"  says  Domesday,  "  tern- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


443 


by  a  common  relation  to  the  king's  reeve,  port-reeve,  chap.  ix. 
or  wick-reeve,  as  well  as  by  those  beginnings  of  a     The 
true  municipal  life  which  are  to  be  seen  in  the  ex-    cnut° 
istence  of  a  common  Port-mannimot,  or  moot  of  the  loielioss 
burghers  from  all  parts  of  the  city.     That  this  mu-     — 
nicipal  life  was  furthered  by  and  closely  connected 
with  the  bishops  of  the  town  was  shown  by  the  fact 
that  this  moot  was  called  together  by  the  bell  from 
the  bell-tower  of  St.  Paul's,  and  that  it  met  in  the 
space  within  the  precinct  to  the   eastward  of  the 
church.     Nor  is  it  less  remarkable  that  when  the 
burghers  gathered  for  purposes  of  war  they  mus- 
tered on  the  open  space  at  the  west  end  of  the 
church,  and  marched  under  the  banner  of  St.  Paul.' 

It  is  only  by  conjecture  that  we  can  associate  the  Growth  of 
gild  with  its  ealdorman  at  its  head,  whose  memory 
is  preserved  in  the  Dooms  of  i^thelstan,  with  the 
Cnichten-gild  of  Eadgar's  day,  out  of  which  the 
later  "  merchant-gild  "  may  have  grown,  or  with  the 
"  lithsmen  "  who  play  so  important  a  part  in  Cnut's 
day,  and  who  seem  to  have  conducted  the  inland 
traffic  with  Oxford  and  the  towns  along  the  Thames. 
Still  more  conjectural,  perhaps,  is  the  connection  of 
this  gild  with  the  borough  which  grew  up  to  the 
north  of  the  earlier  Lundon-burh,  and  which  has  left 
a  trace  of  itself  in  the  name  of  Aldermanbury,  a 
name  now  lost  in  that  of  Cripple-gate  ward.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  it  is  probable  that  it  is  to  this  pe- 
riod that  we  must  refer  the  beginnings  of  this  Eal- 
dorman-bury,  as  well  as  of  the  Loth-bury  which  lay 


pore   regis   Edwardi    praeter   scyram   Archiepiscopi    fuerunt    sex 
*  Stow's  London  (ed.  Thorns),  p.  12. 


scyrae." 


444  ^^^  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  on  the  banks  of  the  Walbrook  to  the  eastward, 
Th^     though  the  two  boroughs  were  still  parted  from  one 

^cnut°*  another  by  a  space  which  is   now  represented  by 

^Qj— 35  Basing  -  hall  ward,  and  were  far  from  extending 
—  northward  to  the  wall.'  But  to  the  eastward  of  the 
Walbrook  London  must  have  been  increasing  even 
more  rapidly.  While  western  London  was  growing 
into  the  borough  between  the  Poultry  and  St.  Paul's, 
eastern  London  seems  still  to  have  remained  bare 
of  dwellings,  save  for  the  little  group  at  its  East- 
Cheap  and  the  houses  which  fringed  the  lanes  that 
led  from  the  Poultry  to  the  Bishopsgate  and  the 
Bridge.  The  most  important  of  these  was  probably 
that  which  led  up  Cornhill  and  along  our  Bishops- 
gate  Street  to  the  great  manors  of  the  bishops  on 
the  north  of  the  city.  As  Cornhill  was  a  bishop  s 
soke,  it  is  likely  that  the  string  of  dwellings  which 
came  to  creep  up  its  ascent,  with  their  church  of  St. 
Peter  in  the  midst  of  them,  were  due  originally  to 
the  needs  of  this  communication  with  the  episcopal 
manors,  while  the  bounds  of  the  soke,  as  shown  in 
those  of  the  modern  wards,  prove  it  to  have  been 
originally  a  mere  lane  of  houses,  straggling,  as  we 
may  suppose,  through  an  otherwise  untenanted  area. 
Bishopsgate  ward,  which  consists  simply  of  that 
street  with  the  houses  on  both  sides  of  the  road,  still 
more  clearly  looks  back  to  a  time  when  the  lane  to 
the  Gate  was  a  mere  double  line  of  houses  running 
through  an  area  as  yet  unoccupied. 

Grcw//i  of  But  with  the  age  of  Eadgar  came  a  time  of  rapid 
Vadl   development  which  told  yet  more  on  eastern  than 

^  The  one  monument  on  the  west  side  of  Walbrook  which  we  can 
certainly  assign  to  this  period  is  the  church  of  St.  Swithun. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


445 


on-  western  London ;  for  the  trade  which  we  find  chap.  ix. 
estabHshed  in  the  regulations  of  ^thelred'  must  The 
have  grown  up  under  his  father's  reign.  The  com-  "^cnut.^ 
merce  with  the  north,  which  had  come  with  thejQj^;^3g 
Danes,  was  backed  by  a  trade  with  the  Rhineland  — 
as  well  as  by  one  with  Normandy.  "  The  men  of 
Rouen,"  runs  the  Institute,  "who  came  with  wine 
and  sturgeon,  gave  as  dues  six  shillings  for  every 
big  ship  and  the  twentieth  piece  of  every  sturgeon. 
The  men  of  Flanders  and  Ponthieu  and  Normandy 
and  France  showed  their  goods  for  sale  and  paid 
toll ;  so  did  the  men  of  Hogge  and  Liege  and  • 
Neville ;  and  the  Emperor  s  men,  who  came  in  their 
ships,  were  held  worthy  of  good  laws  even  as  we." 
The  seafaring  vessels  in  which  this  trade  was  con- 
ducted, no  longer  able  from  their  size  to  reach  the 
hythe  in  the  Walbrook,  moored  along  the  Thames 
itself  at  Billingsgate  and  Queenhythe,  on  whose  rude 
wharves  the  laws  show  us  piled  a  strange  medley  of 
goods — pepper  and  spices  from  the  far  East,  crates 
of  gloves  and  gray  cloths,  it  may  be  from  the  Lom- 
bard looms,  sacks  of  wool,  the  lowly  forerunners  of 
England's  own  great  export  in  later  days,  iron-work 
from  Liege,  butts  of  French  wine  and  of  vinegar, 
and  with  them  the  rural  products  of  the  country 
itself — cheese,  butter,  lard,  and  eggs,  with  live  swine 
and  fowls.  The  influence  of  the  port  at  Billings- 
gate was  seen  in  the  rapid  peopling  of  eastern  Lon- 
don. Houses  must  have  been  already  clustering 
round  the  gates ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  district 
just  within  the  Aid-gate,"  which  was  a  soke  in  the 

*  De  Institutis  Lundoniae  :  Thorpe,  Anc.  Laws,  i.  300. 

*  Now  represented  by  its  ward. 


.  .5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP^ix.  twelfth  century/  was  already  to  some  extent  peopled 
The  by  Eadgar's  day.  If  the  tradition  of  the  Cnichten- 
^cnuV^  gild,  at  any  rate,  is  to  be  trusted,  and  if  the  district 
loieToss.  without  the  gate,'  then  "  desolate  "  from  the  Danish 
—  ravages,  was  given  to  the  gild  as  a  soke  by  Eadgar,' 
this  would  date  the  beginning  of  buildings  in  this 
quarter  and  that  of  the  church  of  St.  Botulf,  round 
which  they  clustered  as  "  the  head  of  the  soke,"  in  his 
reign.  Just  to  the  south  of  this  district,  and  occupy- 
ing the  whole  space  between  the  East-Cheap  and 
the  Tower,  is  another  large  area  now  represented  by 
Tower  Ward.  The  church  of  All  Hallows,  Barking, 
near  the  south-eastern  angle  of  this  ward,  may,  as  we 
have  said,  represent  some  slight  gathering  of  people 
there  on  land  belonging  to  that  house  at  an  earlier 
date,  but  the  bulk  of  the  area  is  divided  between  the 
parishes  of  St.  Dunstan  in  the  East  and  St.  Olave's, 
Hart  Street,  and  can  therefore  hardly  have  been 
peopled  at  an  earlier  time  than  the  reign  of  Eadgar 
and  iEthelred.  If  much  of  this  sudden  growth  of 
London  was  due  to  the  new  trading  energy,  much 
was  due  to  an  actual  settlement  of  Danes.  Malmes- 
bury  indeed  speaks  of  London  as  having  become 
half-barbarized  at  this  time  by  the  abundance  of  its 
Danish  inhabitants  ;*  their  influence  is  shown  by  the 
conversion  of  its  Portmannimot  into  a  "Husting;" 
while  the  churches  of  St.  Magnus  and  St.  Olave,  at 
either  end  of  the  Bridge,  suggest  that  the  steep  slope 
down  to  the  river  along  which  Thames  Street  runs 

^  When  it  was  held  by  Queen  Matilda. 

-  Our  Portsoken  ward. 

^  Stow's  London  (ed.  Thorns),  p.  46. 

*  Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  318. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       447 

on  either  side  Walbrook,  as  well  as  the  similar  slope  chap^ix. 
across  the  water,  were  both  peopled  by  Northmen  at     The 
about  this  period.     It  is  possible,  indeed,  that  the    ^S.^ 
district  that  lies  between  the  present  Thames  Street  ^Q^^^gg 
and  the  river  was  only  reclaimed  in  the  days  of  Cnut ; 
none  of  the  dedications  of  the  parishes  in  this  region 
point  to  an  earlier  date. 

The  wealth  which  had  been  brousfht  to  London   {mpor- 

,  .  tance  of 

by  this  rapid  development  of  trade  may  be  estimated  London. 
by  the  tribute  demanded  from  it  even  in  the  first 
year  of  Cnut's  reign ;  while  the  whole  of  England 
had  to  pay  a  Danegeld  of  seventy -two  thousand 
pounds,  the  townsmen  of  London  were  taxed  at  ten 
thousand  five  hundred  pounds.  And  with  the  up- 
growth of  commercial  activity  and  wealth  there  had 
come,  as  we  have  seen,  a  new  political  importance 
which,  from  the  time  of  the  later  Danish  wars,  Lon- 
don was  never  again  to  lose.  Under  Cnut  it  became 
not  only  the  commercial  but  the  military  centre  of 
the  kingdom,  and  soon  rose  to  be  its  political  centre 
as  well.  When  the  King  of  the  West  Saxons  be- 
came finally,  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.  King  of  all 
England,  Winchester  could  no  longer  serve  as  the 
seat  of  the  royal  power,  the  capital  of  the  larger 
State ;  and  the  new  necessities  of  the  time  led  to  the 
rapid  rise  in  political  importance  of  London,  whose 
position,  commanding  the  highway  of  the  Thames 
and  the  great  lines  of  communication  which  struck 
from  the  chief  port  of  the  realm  across  the  island, 
made  it  the  natural  centre  of  the  English  provinces, 
while  it  was  no  less  fitted  by  position  to  become  the 
centre  of  the  great  empire  which  Cnut  was  building 
up  on  either  shore  of  the  North  Sea. 


.  .g       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.      The  firm  hold  which  Cnut  had  gained  on  Eng- 

The     land  during  the  eight  years  which  followed  his  cor- 

^cnut.°'  onation,  now  left  him  free  to  turn  to  the  affairs  of 

101&T035  ^^^  northern  realm.    He  was  already  master  of  Den- 

—  .,  mark,  but  Norway  had  risen  in  revolt  the  year  after 

Cnut's pil-      ,  f    T-        1         1  1111- 

grimage.  his  conqucst  01  iLngland,  1017,  and  had  driven  out 
his  nephew,  Jarl  Hakon,  who  held  it  in  the  Danish 
name.  For  a  time  Cnut  took  no  measures  of  re- 
venge, but  remained  firm  to  his  policy  of  the  con- 
solidation of  his  power  in  England  and  Denmark. 
In  1025,  however,  the  peace  and  security  of  his  em- 
pire left  him  free  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  the  asser- 
tion of  his  supremacy,  and  to  make  a  formal  de- 
mand for  the  submission  of  Norway.  The  mocking 
answer  of  its  native  ruler,  the  famous  St.  Olaf,  was 
not  followed  at  once  by  open  war,  but  led  to  a  train 
of  negotiations  in  which  the  prudence  and  skill  of 
Cnut  showed  themselves.  While  attempting  to 
break  the  alliance  between  Sweden  and  Norway, 
and  to  spread  disaffection  and  distrust  among  the 
Norwegians,  he  sought  to  strengthen  his  hold  in 
Denmark  itself  by  leaving  as  its  ruler  his  son  Har- 
thacnut,  a  child  of  seven  years  old,  in  the  charge 
of  his  brother-in-law,  Ulf.  His  next  step  showed 
the  large  political  conceptions  which  ruled  his  ac- 
tion. The  Scandinavian  kingdoms  had,  up  to  this 
time,  lain  outside  the  European  commonwealth, 
the  terror  and  scourge  of  Western  Christendom. 
Heathenism  still  held  its  ground  in  the  forests  of 
the  North,  and  the  peoples  of  Europe  saw  in  the 
pirates  the  deadly  enemies  alike  of  their  civilization 
and  of  their  religion.  Cnut's  first  aim  was,  by  a 
decisive  act  on  his  own  part,  to  bring  his  northern 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^g 

kingdom  into  a  new  union  with  Christendom.     He  chap,  ix. 
undertook   a   pilgrimage   to    Rome.     As   a  West-     The 
Saxon  king  he  was,  indeed,  but  following  in  the     cnut.° 
steps  of  his  predecessors  for  more  than  three  hun-^Q^^gg 
dred  years  past,  but  no  Danish  king  or  jarl  had  ever     — 
yet  left  the  shores  of  Denmark  as  a  pilgrim ;  and 
there  was  no  longer  any  doubt  as  to  the  character 
which  the  young  king  meant  to  impress  on  the  gov- 
ernment of  his  northern  realm  when,  at  twenty-six, 
he  set  sail  for  Rome.     From  the  moment  of  his 
landing  on  the  coast  of  Flanders  the  political  char- 
acter of  his  journey  was  clearly  marked,  whether  he 
turned  aside  to  secure  the  friendship  of  Count  Al- 
bert at  Namur,  or   astonished   Bishop   Fulbert  of 
Chartres  by  the  wisdom  and  splendor  of  a  king  who 
had  till  now  been  in  the  eyes  of  Europe  but  a  leader 
of  heathen  pirates.     As  he  journeyed  along  the  pil- 
grims' route,  he  secured,  by  treaties  with  the  masters 
of  the  Alpine  passes,  safety  for  English  merchants 
and  travellers  to  the  Papal  City,  and  in  Rome  itself 
won  from  the   Pope  immunity  from  all   tolls  and 
taxes  for  the   Saxon  school  which  had  grown  up 
there. 

His  political  work  was  completed  in  the  spring  i^is JVor/A- 
by  his  meeting  at  Rome  with  the  Emperor  Conrad,  ^"pir/"' 
when  the  master  of  the  two  kingdoms  of  Denmark 
and  England  was  strong  enough  to  wring  from  the 
Emperor  the  restoration  of  the  land  beyond  the 
Eider  which  had  been  seized  by  Otto  the  Second, 
and  to  throw  back  the  German  frontier  to  that 
river;  while  a  treaty  was  arranged  for  the  future 
marriage  of  Cnut's  daughter  to  the  son  of  Conrad, 
afterwards  the  Emperor  Henry  HI.     But  from  his 

29 


.CQ  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAR  IX.  triumphant  pilgrimage  Cnut  returned  to  fresh 
The     troubles    at    home.       England,    indeed,    remained 

^cnut°^  peaceful,  but  Denmark  had  revolted  in  favor  of  the 

^^—^,35  child  Harthacnut  and  the  regent- U If,  and,  torn  by 
—  civil  strife,  was  in  no  state  to  resist  the  combined 
attack  with  which  it  was  threatened  by  Norway  and 
Sweden.  Cnut,  however,  backed  by  the  steady  loy- 
alty of  his  English  realm,  and  strengthened  by  the 
new  naval  power  which  it  had  developed  in  these 
years  of  prosperity,  was  able  to  make  himself  quick- 
ly master  of  Denmark  and  to  repulse  the  invasion 
of  the  allied  fleets;  and  in  the  following  year,  1028, 
he  sailed  from  England  to  Norway  with  fifty  great 
ships,  and  drove  King  Olaf  out  of  the  land,  over 
which  he  set  his  nephew,  Hakon,  as  jarl.  A  last 
rising  of  the  Norwegians  against  his  power,  in  1029, 
was  at  once  stamped  out,  and  till  his  death  Norway 
owned  his  rule. 

T/ieScoi.  Lord  of  three  realms,  Cnut  could  now  turn  to  the 
dom.''  last  troubles  that  seemed  to  threaten  him,  and  act 
as  decisively  on  the  borders  of  his  English  realm  as 
in  the  northern  seas.  His  power  was  shown  by  the 
ease  with  which  he  crushed  difficulties  that  had 
hardly  tried  the  resources  of  the  earlier  English 
kings.  A  rising  of  the  Welsh  had  been  checked  in 
the  first  years  of  his  rule  by  the  march  of  an  army 
on  St.  David's,  and  among  the  last  events  of  his 
reign  we  hear  of  the  slaying  of  a  Welsh  prince  by 
the  English.  These  later  years  were  marked,  too, 
by  his  action  in  putting  an  end  to  the  dangers 
which  sprang  from  the  new  attitude  of  the  Scottish 
kings.  We  have  already  seen  how  the  political  re- 
lations of  the  Scots  with  their  southern  neighbors 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


45.1 


had  been  affected  by  the  action  of  the  Danes,  chap.ix. 
Pressed  between  the  Norse  jarls  settled  in  Caith-  The 
ness  and  the  Danelaw  of  central  England,  the  Scot  ^c^t.°' 
kings  were  glad  to  welcome  the  friendship  of  Wes-^^^^^gg 
sex ;  but  with  the  conquest  by  the  house  of  Alfred  — 
of  the  Danelaw,  and  the  extension  of  the  new  Eng- 
lish realm  to  their  own  southern  border,  their  dread 
of  English  ambition  became  in  its  turn  greater  than 
their  dread  of  the  Dane.  In  the  battle  of  Brunan- 
burh  the  Scot  king  Constantine  fought  side  by  side 
with  the  Northmen  against  yEthelstan.  Eadmund's 
gift  of  southern  Cumbria  showed  the  price  which  the 
English  kings  set  upon  Scottish  friendship.  The 
district  was  thenceforth  held  by  the  heir  of  the 
Scottish  crown,  and  for  a  time  at  least  the  policy 
of  conciliation  seems  to  have  been  successful,  for 
the  Scots  proved  Eadred's  allies  in  his  wars  with 
Northumbria.  But  even  as  allies  they  were  still 
pressing  southward  on  the  English  realm.  Across 
the  Forth  lay  the  English  Lowlands,  that  northern 
Bernicia  which  had  escaped  the  Danish  settlement 
that  changed  the  neighboring  Deira  into  a  part  of 
the  Danelaw.  It  emerged  from  the  Danish  storm 
as  English  as  before,  with  a  line  of  native  ealdor- 
men  who  seem  to  have  inherited  the  blood  of  its 
older  kings.  Harassed  as  the  land  had  been,  and 
changed  as  it  was  from  the  Northumbria  of  Bseda 
or  Cuthbert,  Bernicia  was  still  a  tempting  bait  to 
the  clansmen  of  the  Scottish  realm. 

One  important  post  was  already  established  on  ^is-ivin- 
Northumbrian  soil.  Whether  by  peaceful  cession  Norlhfm 
on  Eadred's  part  or  no,  the  border  fortress  of  Edin-  ^^''^'^'°" 
burgh  passed  during  his  reign  into  Scottish  hands. 


.r2       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  It  is  uncertain  if  the  grant  of  Lothian  by  Eadgar 
m     followed  the  acquisition  of  Edinburgh ;  but  at  the 

^cnut.*^^  close  of  his  reign  the  southward  pressure  of  the 

1016T035  ^^^^^  ^^^  strongly  felt.  "  Raids  upon  Saxony  "  are 
—  marked  by  the  Pictish  chronicle  among  the  deeds  of 
King  Kenneth ;  and  amidst  the  troubles  of  ^^thel- 
red's  reign  a  Scottish  host  swept  the  country  to  the 
very  gates  of  Durham.  But  Durham  was  rescued 
by  the  sword  of  Uhtred,  and  the  heads  of  the  slain 
marauders  were  hung  by  their  long,  twisted  hair 
round  its  walls.  The  raid  and  the  fight  were  mem- 
orable as  the  opening  of  a  series  of  descents  which 
were  from  this  time  to  form  much  of  the  history  of 
the  north.  Cnut  was  hardly  seated  on  the  throne 
when  in  1018  the  Scot  king,  Malcolm,  made  a  fresh 
inroad  on  Northumbria,  and  the  flower  of  its  nobles 
fell  fighting  round  Earl  Eadwulf  in  a  battle  at  Car- 
ham,  on  the  Tweed.  For  a  time  the  blow  passed 
unavenged,  and  it  was  not  till  1031  that  Cnut  was 
forced  by  fresh  outbreaks  to  march  upon  the  Scots. 
The  might  of  the  great  conqueror  must  have  been 
overwhelming,  for  Malcolm  submitted  without  a 
battle ;  but  his  pledge  to  become  Cnut's  "  man " 
seems  to  have  been  part  of  a  political  arrangement 
by  which  the  possession  of  his  conquests  was  con- 
firmed to  the  Scottish  king,  and  by  which  the  north- 
ern half  of  the  old  Northumbrian  kingdom  became 
henceforth  part  of  the  Scottish  realm. 

Its  results.  Pcw  gaius  havc  told  more  powerfully  on  the  po- 
litical character  of  a  kingdom  than  this.  King  of 
western  Dalriada,  king  of  the  Picts,  lord  of  Cum- 
bria, the  Scot  king  had  till  now  been  ruler  only  of 
Gaelic  and  Cymric  peoples.     "  Saxony,"  the  land  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  453 

the  English  across  the  Forth,  had  been  simply  a  chap,  ixy 
hostile  frontier — the  land  of  an  alien  race — whose  The  ^ 
rule  had  been  felt  in  the  assertion  of  Northumbrian  J^^^ 
supremacy  and  West-Saxon  over-lordship.  Now  for^^^^gg 
the  first  time  Malcolm  saw  Englishmen  among  his  — 
subjects.  Lothian,  with  its  Northumbrian  farmers 
and  seamen,  became  a  part  of  his  dominions.  And 
from  the  first  moment  of  its  submission  it  was  a 
most  important  part.  The  wealth,  the  civilization, 
the  settled  institutions,  the  order  of  the  English  ter- 
ritory won  by  the  Scottish  king,  placed  it  at  the 
head  of  the  Scottish  realm.  The  clans  of  Cantyre 
or  of  the  Highlands,  the  Cymry  of  Strathclyde,  fell 
into  the  background  before  the  stout  farmers  of 
northern  Northumbria.  The  spell  drew  the  Scot 
king,  in  course  of  time,  from  the  very  land  of  the 
Gael.  Edinburgh,  an  EngHsh  town  in  the  English 
territory,  became  ultimately  his  accustomed  seat. 
In  the  midst  of  an  English  district  the  Scot  kings 
gradually  ceased  to  be  the  Gaelic  chieftains  of  a 
Gaelic  people.  The  process  at  once  began  which 
was  to  make  them  Saxons,  Englishmen  in  tongue, 
in  feeling,  in  tendency,  in  all  but  blood.  Nor  was 
this  all.  The  gain  of  Lothian  brought  them  into 
closer  political  relations  with  the  English  crown. 
The  loose  connection  which  the  king  of  Scots  and 
Picts  had  acknowledged  in  owning  Eadward  the 
Elder  as  father  and  lord,  had  no  doubt  been  drawn 
tighter  by  the  fealty  now  owed  for  the  fief  of  Cum- 
bria. But  Lothian  was  English  ground,  and  the 
grant  of  Lothian  made  the  Scot  king  "  man  "  of  the 
English  king  for  that  territory,  as  Earl  Eadwulf  was 
Cnut's  "man"  for  the  land  to  the  south  of  it.     So- 


.cA^  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAp.ix.eial  influences,  political  relations,  were  henceforth 
The     to  draw  the  two  realms  together;  but  it  is  in  the 

^cnut.*^^  cession  of  Lothian  that  the  process  really  began. 

1016^035  ^^  *^^  moment  this  settlement  of  the  north  was 
—     chiefly  important  as  freeing  Cnut's  hands  to  deal 

^theiiugs  with  dangers  which  were    now   gathering    in   the 

^maudy.  south.  The  policy  by  which  i^thelred  had  de- 
tached Normandy  from  its  old  association  with  the 
Danes  was  at  last  bearing  fruit.  Of  the  line  of 
Cerdic,  none  remained  to  dispute  Cnut's  throne 
save  the  two  sons  of  Eadmund  Ironside,  who  had 
found  a  distant  refuge  in  Hungary,  and  their  uncles, 
the  sons  of  y^thelred  by  his  second  marriage  with 
Emma,  the  ^thelings  ^^Ifred  and  Eadward.  From 
the  time  of  their  father's  flight  from  England  these 
had  remained  at  the  Norman  court,  and  though  in 
wedding  Emma  anew  to  Cnut,  Richard  the  Good 
virtually  pledged  himself  to  give  no  Norman  aid  to 
his  nephews'  claims,  their  presence  at  Rouen  was 
still  a  check  on  the  English  king.  Children  as  they 
were  of  Emma,  and  bred  up  from  childhood  at  the 
ducal  court,  the  two  ^thelings  seemed,  to  every 
Norman,  members  of  the  ducal  house  and  Normans 
like  themselves;  and  from  after- events  we  see  how 
i-eadily  the  Norman  knighthood  would  have  followed 
them  in  any  effort  to  gain  the  English  crown. 
Every  day  made  the  chance  of  such  an  attack  a 
more  formidable  danger;  for  not  only  was  Norman- 
dy growing  fast  in  population  and  military  power, 
but  the  energy  of  its  people  was  already  in  secret 
revolt  against  the  peaceful  system  of  their  dukes. 
The  duchy  was  seething  with  hot-blooded  soldiers, 
longing  for  enterprise,  as  well  as  envious   of  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^^ 

Danes  who  put  into  their  harbors  with  booty  won  chap.  ix. 
on  English  ground;  and  an  occasional  march  to  aid     The 
the  Parisian  king,  or  to  avenge  a  wrong  offered  by    cnut° 
the    Burgundian    duke,   or   to    drive    off    neighbor  ^Q^^g^ 
princes   from    the   border,  was    all    that   Richard's     — 
peaceful  reign  offered  in  the  way  of  outer  warfare, 
while  his  stern  hand  crushed  roughly  out  all  chance 
of  disorder  at  home.     Little  by  little,  therefore,  the 
old    northern    spirit   of   wandering    and  venturing 
found  outlets   elsewhere.     Roger  de  Toesny  led  a 
troop  of  warriors  to  Spain,  and  some  Norman  pil- 
grims in  Apulia  grew  fast  into  a  war-band  which 
was  to  change  the  destinies  of  southern  Italy. 

England  offered  a  nearer  field  for  adventure  than  Robert  the 
Italy  or  Spain ;  and,  wedded  as  he  was  to  a  Norman 
wife,  Cnut  must  have  watched  jealously  the  temper 
of  the  Norman  people  through  the  reigns  of  Rich- 
ard the  Good  and  of  his  son  and  successor,  Richard 
the  Third.  The  danger  which  he  dreaded  at  last 
actually  fronted  him  on  the  accession  of  Robert — 
Robert  the  Devil,  as  men  called  him  in  after-time — 
who  became  duke  of  Normandy  on  his  brother's 
death  in  1028.  The  land  was  now  ringing  with  the 
marvellous  victories  over  Greek  or  Moslem  which 
Normans  were  winning  in  far  -  off  fields ;  poor 
knights  and  younger  sons,  sick  of  peace  and  good 
order,  were  streaming  off,  in  band  after  band,  over 
Alps  and  Pyrenees ;  and  the  restless  temper  of  his 
people  stirred  the  blood  in  the  veins  of  their  duke. 
From  the  first  Robert  showed  his  warlike  activity,: 
crushing  revolt  within  his  duchy,  bringing  Brittany 
back  into  submission,  restoring  Count  Baldwin  to 
power  in  Flanders,  and  seating  King  Henry,  in  the 


456  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  IX.  face  of  all  opposition,  on  the  French  throne.  But 
The      France  offered  no  such  scope  for  greed  and  ambi- 

^cnut.°'  tion  as  the  land  over  the  Channel.     England  was 

jQjgl^gg  nearer  than  Spain  or  Apulia,  and  the  title  of  the 
—  sons  of  i^thelred  gave  a  fair  pretext  for  attack. 
We  are  left  to  Norman  writers  for  the  incidents  of 
the  quarrel,  and  we  know  nothing  of  its  cause,  or  of 
the  grounds  which  induced  Robert  to  set  aside  the 
claims  of  his  sister  and  of  the  child  she  had  borne 
to  Cnut.  But  if  greed  and  ambition  were  strong 
enough  to  set  these  aside,  the  claims  of  the  sons  of 
^thelred,  who  were  equally  akin  to  him,  gave  Rob- 
ert a  fair  pretext  for  attack.  The  Norman  baron- 
age at  once  backed  him  in  his  plan  of  invasion,  and 
the  duke  set  sail  with  the  eldest  of  the  two  ^^thel- 
ings — JElired, 

miiiam       That  Robert  s  fortune  would  have  been  that  of 

the  ISTor-  n    i  i        i         i         a-. 

man.  the  later  conqueror  may  well  be  doubted.  Cnut 
was  at  the  height  of  his  power,  and  the  one  chance 
of  success  against  him  lay  in  an  English  rising 
which  might  have  welcomed  the  ^theling.  But 
contest  there  was  to  be  none.  Roberts  project 
broke  down  before  the  obstacle  which  had  so  often 
foiled  attacks  on  the  English  shore;  for  a  storm 
carried  the  Norman  fleet  down  the  Channel,  and 
flung  it,  wrecked,  on  the  coast  of  Jersey.  It  may 
have  been  the  bitterness  of  this  failure  which  drove 
the  duke  from  his  throne.  Pilgrimages  to  the  Sep- 
ulchre of  Christ  were  now  growing  common  in  Nor- 
mandy, and  Robert  announced  his  purpose  of  going 
as  pilgrim  to  the  Holy  Land.  But  some  prevision 
of  the  doom  which  awaited  him  drove  the  duke  to 
name  his  successor  ere  he  left.     Claimants  of  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^ry 

duchy  there  were  in  plenty,  whether  of  the  stock  of  chap.  ix. 
Richard  the  Fearless  or  of  the  stock  of  Richard  the  The 
Good.  Child  of  his  own,  Robert  had  but  one.  In  ^cSt^' 
the  little  dell  which  parts  the  two  cliffs,  the  twOiQ^^^gg 
"  fells  "  which  have  given  their  name  to  Falaise,  one  — 
may  still  hear  the  chatter  of  the  women  who  wash 
their  linen  at  the  brook.  One  of  such  a  group — a 
tanner  s  daughter  of  the  town — had  caught  the  light 
fancy  of  Robert  and  became  the  mother  of  his  boy. 
At  the  moment  of  the  child's  birth  the  gossips 
noted  the  sturdy  grasp  with  which  his  fingers  seized 
and  held  the  straws  scattered  on  the  floor.  He 
would  be  no  Norman,  they  laughed,  to  let  go  what 
once  he  had  gripped.  The  laugh  proved  a  true 
prophecy,  but  none  of  the  laughers  knew  how 
mighty  a  prize  that  hand  was  in  after-days  to  grip. 
It  was  this  boy,  William,  whom  the  duke  forced  his 
barons  to  choose  as  their  future  lord  ere  he  left  the 
land  which  he  was  never  to  see  again;  for  after  a 
few  months'  stay  he  died  on  his  return  at  Nicaea  in 
July,  1035.  The  news  of  his  death  set  Normandy 
on  fire.  The  boy-duke  was  a  child  and  a  bastard, 
scorned  for  age  as  for  shame  of  birth  by  the  haughty 
lords  whom  the  upgrowth  of  feudalism  had  made 
powers  in  the  land.  Even  the  dukes  before  him  had 
found  it  hard  to  secure  peace  and  order  in  a  coun- 
try which  was  filled  with  turbulent  nobles,  and  whose 
people  had  still  the  wild  northern  blood,  with  its  love 
of  lawless  outbreak  stirring  in  their  veins.  "  Nor- 
mans must  be  trodden  down  and  kept  under  foot," 
sang  one  of  their  poets,  "  and  he  who  bridles  them 
may  use  them  at  his  need."  But  no  child-duke  could 
bridle  them.    The  great  border  nobles  held  William's 


.eg       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.ix.  rule  at  defiance.  On  every  height  and  mound  rose 
Th^     square  keeps  of  solid  stone,  which  helped  their  build- 

^cnuV^  ers  to  hold  the  child-duke  at  bay.    The  land  became 

,ni77nQ^  a  chaos  of  bloodshed  and  anarchy,  while  William 
—  saw  his  friends  murdered  beside  him,  and  was  driven 
from  refuge  to  refuge  by  foes  who  sought  his  life. 

Death  of  That  the  boy  whose  reign  began  in  this  wild 
storm  was  to  tear  England  from  the  grasp  of  the 
Dane  and  to  hold  the  land  at  his  will,  Cnut  could 
not  know.  What  he  saw  was  the  drifting  away  of 
the  danger  to  his  throne  from  the  ^^thelings  across 
the  Channel.  From  a  boy-duke  of  eight  years  old, 
from  this  chaotic  Normandy,  small  aid  could  come 
to  the  sons  of  ^thelred.  But  it  was  at  the  moment 
when  his  last  difficulty  vanished  that  Cnut's  vigor 
suddenly  gave  way.  Long  and  eventful  as  his  reign 
had  been,  he  was  still  only  a  man  of  forty  when  he 
died,  in  November,  1035,  leaving  his  work  all  un- 
finished. The  empire  he  had  built  up  at  once  fell 
to  pieces  at  the  tidings  of  his  death.  Norway  threw 
off  the  Danish  yoke  by  driving  out  Cnut's  son, 
Swein,  and  chose  as  king  the  child  Magnus,  son  of 
Olaf,  while  Swein  fled  to  Denmark  to  share  the 
kingdom  with  his  brother  Harthacnut,  till  his  death 
a  few  months  after.  For  years  to  come  Hartha- 
cnut's  energies  were  wholly  absorbed  in  guarding 
Denmark  from  the  danger  of  Norwegian  invasion, 
and  his  treaty  with  Magnus,  that  if  either  of  the 
kings  died  childless  his  dominions  should  pass  to 
the  other,  showed  the  insecurity  of  the  house  of 
Cnut  even  in  Denmark  itself.  The  kingdom  of 
England  which  was  to  have  fallen  to  Harthacnut  by 
his  father's  will,  and,  doubtless,  was  to  have  carried 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.      •  ^^g 

with  it  the  over -lordship  of  the  whole  empire,  lay  chap^ix. 
beyond  the   reach  of  the  hardly  -  pressed   ruler  of     The 
Denmark ;    it  was  claimed  by  another  son  of  Cnut,     cSt.° 
Harald,  and  itself  fell  asunder  into  two  parts.     ^^^^"^3^ 
tragic  fate,  too,  av/aited  the  house    of   Cnut.     Be-     — 
fore  seven  years  were  past  the  same  weakness  which 
had  cut  short  his  own  life  had  carried  off  his  four 
children,  not  one  of  them  having  reached  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  and  all  childless  save  Gunhild,  the 
wife  of  the  German,  Henry  III.,  whose  only  child 
became  a  nun.    The  race  of  Gorm  in  the  direct  line 
of  descent  thus  became  extinct  in  little  more  than  a 
hundred  years  after  he  had  finished  his  work  of  the 
creation  of  the  Danish  kingdom. 


>^  OP  THR 


.      CHAPTER  X. 

THE    HOUSE    OF   GODWINE. 
1035-1053. 

Position  of  The  death  of  Cnut  left  God  wine  the  greatest 
o  wine,  p^jji^-^^j  power  in  the  land.  For  years  he  had  stood 
second  only  to  the  king  in  his  English  realm;  as 
Earl  of  Wessex  he  was  master  of  the  wealthiest  and 
most  powerful  portion  of  the  kingdom ;  and  Cnut  s 
absences  on  foreign  campaigns  had  accustomed 
Englishmen  to  look  on  Godwine  as  the  real  centre 
of  administrative  government.  The  will  of  Cnut, 
that  he  should  be  succeeded  by  Harthacnut  in  the 
English  kingdom  and  the  over-lordship  of  his  north- 
ern realms,  embodied  no  doubt  not  the  king  s  pur- 
pose only,  but  that  of  the  minister  who  had  been  his 
chief  counsellor  for  fifteen  years  past,  and  repre- 
sented that  connection  with  the  North,  that  main- 
tenance of  a  Scandinavian  empire,  which  was  as  yet 
the  policy  of  Godwine  as  it  had  been  the  policy  of 
the  king.  For  English  as  was  his  blood,  and  Eng- 
lish as  his  policy  was  to  become  in  later  days,  God- 
wine can  have  shared  but  little  the  general  drift  of 
English  feeling  against  the  Dane.  As  yet,  indeed, 
he  must  have  seemed  to  Englishmen  more  Dane 
than  Englishman.  He  had  risen  through  the  favor, 
he  had  guided  the  counsels,  of  a  Danish  conqueror. 
His  renown  as  a  warrior  had  been  won  in  Danish 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^51 

wars.     He  was  wedded  to  a  wife  of  Danish  blood,  chap.x. 
and  his  two  eldest  children,  Swein  and  Harold,  bore     The 
the   Danish   names  of  Cnut's  elder  boys.     It  was  oodwine! 
no  wonder,  therefore,  that  he  supported,  on  Cnut's  losgliosa 
death,  the  continuance  of  that  union  of  England     — 
with  Denmark  which   Harthacnut's  succession   se- 
cured. 

But  the  internal  policy  of  both  king  and  minis-  Godwim's 
ter  had  made  their  outer  policy  impossible.  Their 
whole  system  of  government  and  administration  had 
nursed  English  feeling  into  a  new  and  vigorous  life. 
To  England  Cnut  had  been  an  English  king.  If 
he  had  ruled  other  lands  it  was  from  Winchester, 
as  dependencies  of  his  English  crown.  The  very 
Danes  who  had  settled  in  England  had  learned 
through  his  long  and  peaceful  reign  to  look  on 
themselves  as  Englishmen,  and  on  Denmark  as  a 
foreign  land.  But  Harthacnut  had  scarcely  been 
seen  in  England ;  from  early  childhood  he  had  been 
trained  in  Denmark  as  its  king,  and  it  might  well 
be  thought  that  his  rule  meant  the  rule  of  England 
from  a  Danish  throne.  If  the  influence  of  Godwine 
and  the  Lady  Emma  at  Winchester  was  strong 
enough  to  hold  the  West-Saxon  earldom  true  to  the 
claims  of  Harthacnut,  the  rest  of  England  called  for 
a  national  king.  In  pleading  for  the  succession  of 
Harthacnut,  Godwine  doubtless  seemed  to  the  peo- 
ple at  large  to  be  pleading  for  Danish  rule.  To  his 
fellow  earls  he  seemed  no  doubt  pleading  for  his 
own,  and  political  rivalry  united  with  national  feel- 
ing in  urging  Earl  Leofric  of  Mercia  to  withstand 
him.  It  marks  the  hold  which  Cnut's  greatness  had 
given  him  on  the  affections  of  Englishmen,  that  even 


4j52  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.  in  setting  aside  Harthacnut  they  showed  no  will  to 
The     set  aside  his  father's  line.     Not  a  cry  was   raised 

Sne^  for  the  children  of  ^thelred.    Cnut's  death,  indeed, 

1035T053  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^^  followed  by  a  descent  of  the 
—  yEtheling  Eadward  with  forty  Norman  ships  at 
Southampton,  but  the  attack  had  failed,  and  its 
failure  was  decisive. 

jiara/j  j^  ^^as  Cuut's  elder  son,  Harald — "  Harefoot,"  as 
he  was  called  for  his  swiftness  of  foot — who,  Dane  as 
he  was,  at  any  rate  represented  an  England  separate 
from  Denmark,  that  Leofric  and  the  "  lithsmen,"  a 
merchant-gild  of  London,  called  to  the  throne.  The 
hus-carls  of  the  dead  king  were  still  with  Emma  at 
Winchester,  and  a  word  from  Godwine  would  have 
plunged  England  into  war.  But  warrior  as  he  had 
shown  himself  in  earlier  days,  it  is  the  noblest  trait 
in  the  character  of  Godwine  throughout  his  political 
career  that  he  shrank  from  civil  bloodshed.  The 
Witan  gathered  at  Oxford  to  decide  the  question  of 
the  succession ;  Leofric  demanded  a  division  of  the 
realm,  and  stubborn  as  was  Godwine's  resistance, 
he  yielded  at  last  to  the  doom  of  his  fellow  nobles. 
For  the  moment,  indeed,  his  influence,  and  it  may 
be  dread  of  the  dead  king's  hus-carls,  saved  his  own 
earldom,  which  was  suffered  to  remain  faithful  to 
Harthacnut;  but  the  rest  of  England  took  Harald 
for  its  king. 

3%ii7.  ^^  ^^^'  l^owever,  impossible  that  such  a  division 
/anJ:  of  the  realm  could  last  long.  The  strife  which  had 
again  broken  the  land  into  two  pahs  was  indeed 
the  renewal  of  the  old  contest  between  Wessex  and 
the  rest  of  England ;  but  the  new  attitude  of  London 
marked  a  decisive  and  important  change.     From 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^^ 

the  moment  that  London  sided,  not  with  Wessex  chap.x. 
but  with  England,  the  relation  of  parties  was  altered,  The 
and  the  ultimate  victory  of  the  national  will  over  Go^wine. 
provincial  jealousies  could  be  no  longer  doubtful.  ^Qg^^^g^ 
If  the  new  division  of  England  between  two  claim-  — 
ants  recalled  the  compromise  of  Olney,  there  was 
still  a  significant  difference.  It  was  the  king  of  the 
joint  Mercian  and  Northumbrian  realms  who  was 
now  over-lord,  while  the  West-Saxon  ruler  sank  to 
the  position  of  under-king.  Such  a  settlement  struck 
a  hard  blow  at  the  authority  of  Earl  Godwine.  Un- 
der Cnut  he  had  been  second  only  to  the  king  in 
his  power  over  all  England ;  with  a  stranger  such 
as  Harthacnut  he  would  have  ruled  supreme.  But 
Leofric's  action  limited  his  power  to  Wessex,  and 
even  in  Wessex  it  would  seem  as  if  Emma  was  a 
formidable  rival,  for  if,  as  is  stated,  she  had  been 
already  robbed  by  Harald  of  Cnut's  treasure,  she 
still  preserved  Cnut's  body  of  hus-carls  round  her  at 
Winchester.  The  continued  absence  of  Hartha- 
cnut, too,  who  was  still  held  in  Denmark,  weakened 
Godwines  position.  Even  in  his  own  earldom 
men's  minds  turned  from  the  absent  to  the  present 
king;  and  it  would  seem  that  public  feehng  was 
wholly  against  Godwine's  policy,  for  the  Chronicle 
says  "  the  cry  was  then  greatly  in  favor  of  Harald.'' 

So  difficult,  indeed,  was  his  position  in  Wessex.^"^'^^^^/ 

1  •  1  1  71--   1     T  f        1      Alfred. 

that  it  woke  the  ALthelmgs  over  sea  to  a  fresh 
attempt.  It  may  be  that  Emma,  hopeless  of  in- 
ducing Harthacnut  to  take  possession  of  his  West- 
Saxon  kingdom,  had  turned  to  the  children  she  had 
so  long  forgotten  in  Normandy.  It  was  at  any  rate 
in  peaceful  guise,  and  with  the  pretext  of  visiting 


.54       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  his  mother,  that  i^lfred,  the  younger  ^theling, 
The  landed  with  a  train  of  Normans  at  Dover,  and  rode 
Godwinf.  through  Surrey  towards  Winchester.  He  may  have 
j^g—Qgg  hoped  that  the  old  West-Saxon  loyalty  would  spring 
—  into  fresh  life  as  he  neared  the  West-Saxon  capital ; 
but  whatever  was  his  purpose  it  was  ended  by  a 
brutal  deed.  At  Guildford  he  was  seized,  carried 
over  the  Thames  to  Harald  Harefoot,  and  by  Har- 
ald's  orders  blinded,  and  left  to  die  among  the 
monks  at  Ely,  while  the  Normans  who  followed 
him  were  put  to  the  sword  or  sold  for  slaves.  Even 
among  Englishmen  the  cruel  act  was  followed  by  a 
thrill  of  horror.  "  Viler  deed  was  never  done  in 
this  land  since  Dane  came  here,"  sang  an  English 
minstrel.  Over  sea  it  kindled  among  the  Normans 
a  thirst  for  vengeance  which  never  ceased  till  the 
day  of  Senlac ;  and  justly  or  unjustly,  the  Norman 
hate  centred  itself  on  Godwine.  What  his  part  in 
the  matter  had  been  it  is  hard  to  tell.  Whether  or 
not  the  seizure  was  made  by  Godwine's  men  is  a 
matter  of  doubt,  but  it  was  made  in  Godwine's  earl- 
dom; and  the  success  of  Alfred  would  have  over- 
thrown Godwine's  power.  So  general  was  the  con- 
viction that  the  deed  lay  at  his  door,  that  in  the 
n6xt  reign  the  earl  was  charged  with  the  guilt  by 
Archbishop  ^Ifric,  and  forced  to  purge  himself 
solemnly  of  the  charge  by  oath  before  the  altar. 
But  though  Godwine  was  acquitted  by  the  Witan 
of  the  charge  of  betrayal,  his  oath  weighed  little 
with  i^lfred's  kindred.  Emma  believed  that  it  was 
the  earl  who  had  given  up  her  son,  and  Eadward 
looked  on  him  as  his  brother's  murderer.-  It  w^as 
no  wonder  that  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       465 

of  Normandy  men  held  that  the  blood  of  i^lfred,  chap.x. 
and  of  the  Normans  who  followed  him,  rested  upon     The 

r^      -I     '  1  1  •     1  House  of 

Godwme  and  his  house.  Godwine. 

The  political  action  of  the  earl  after  the  murder  jq3^q53 
o^ave  streng^th  to    the    Norman   belief.     Godwine's  ^  ,—  . 

^  ^  T    •      •  Submission 

loss  of  power  had  already  been  great.  His  influence  ofcod- 
was  now  bounded  by  Wessex,  and  even  in  Wessex 
it  was  seriously  threatened.  The  compromise  which 
reserved  southern  England  to  Harthacnut  had  every 
hour  grown  more  impossible ;  men  wearied  of  wait- 
ing for  a  king  who  never  came,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
Wessex  had  to  choose  between  submission  to  Har- 
ald  Harefoot,  or  a  rising  in  favor  of  the  line  of 
Cerdic.  But  Godwine  had  as  yet  no  mind  to  aban- 
don the  house  of  Cnut,  though  it  seems  as  if  despair 
of  Harthacnut's  coming  was  already  swaying  him 
to  the  side  of  Harald  when  ^^Ifred  landed.  His 
landing  precipitated  a  change  of  policy  which  had 
already  become  inevitable,  and  the  murder  made 
further  hesitation  impossible.  It  was  the  alliance 
with  Emma  which  had  enabled  the  earl  to  hold 
Wessex  for  Harthacnut,  and  now  that  Emma  was 
parted  from  him  by  her  belief  in  his  guilt,  Godwine 
was  forced  from  the  position  he  had  held  so  stub- 
bornly. A  new  Witenagemot  was  gathered  in  1037 
to  receive  his  submission.  Emma  was  driven  from 
the  country,  Harthacnut  was  forsaken  by  the  earl 
and  the  men  of  Wessex,  "  for  that  he  was  too  long  . 
in  Denmark,"  and  Harald  became  king  over  all  the 
land. 

Godwine  remained  Earl  of  Wessex.     But  if  he  ^^^^'t^^^- 
had  forsaken  Harthacnut,  Emma  was  still  faithful 
to  her  son.     She  seems   to  have  cared  little  for 

30 


466       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.X.  her  children  by  ^thelred,  whom  she  had  not  seen 
The  since  their  boyhood,  and  to  have  concentrated  her 
Sne.  love  on  her  younger  children  by  Cnut.  When 
1035^053.  ^1"^^  sentence  of  the  Witenagemot,  therefore,  drove 
—  her  from  Winchester,  she  took  refuge  not  in  Nor- 
mandy, which  was  now  backing  the  -^theling  Ead- 
ward,  but  in  Flanders.  Her  temper  was  active  as 
of  oM>.  From  "  Baldwin's  land "  her  messengers 
again  pressed  Harthacnut  to  strike  a  blow  for  his 
heritage;  and" in  the  winter  of  1039  he  sailed  to 
Flanders  to  devise  "^lans  with  his  mother  for  a  great 
invasion,  and  returned  to  the  north  at  the  opening 
of  spring  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  fleet 
which  he  was  preparing.  But  death  had  already 
removed  his  rival.  In  March,  1040,  Harald  Hare- 
foot  died  at  Oxford,  and  was  carried  to  Westminster 
for  burial.  When  Harthacnut  touched  at  Bruges 
with  his  fleet  he  was  met  by  the  news  that  the 
English  Witan  had  chosen  him  for  their  king ;  and 
in  the  following  June  he  landed  peacefully  at  Sand- 
wich, with  the  fleet  of  sixty  vessels  which  had  been 
gathered  for  the  conquest  of  the  kingdom.  The 
fierce  vengeance  of  the  young  sovereign,  it  may  be 
of  Emma,  tore  up  his  predecessor's  body  from  its 
resting-place  and  flung  it  into  a  fen.  Godwine 
again  found  himself  in  hard  straits.  He  had  to 
clear  himself  by  solemn  oath  of  the  charge  of  be- 
trayal of  i^lfred  brought  against  him  by  Archbishop 
^fric.  All  memory  of  the  stand  he  had  made  for 
the  succession  of  Harthacnut  was  lost  in  the  fresher 
memory  of  his  submission  to  Harald.  But  costly 
gifts  enabled  him  to  retain  his  earldom  through 
Harthacnut's  reign.     The  two  years  of  the  young 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       467 

king  s  rule  were  marked  by  little  save  heavy  taxa-  chap,  x. 
tion  for  payment  of  the  Danish  host  which  was  to     Tho 
have  won  back  England,  and  by  the  stern  suppres-  Godwine. 
sion  of  resistance  to  this  Danegeld  at  Worcester.  ^Qg^^gg 
Discontent  would  probably  have  passed  into  revolt, 
had  not  the  certainty  of  his  approaching  end  turned 
men's  minds  to  the  ^theling  Eadward.     The  rise 
of  a  new  sympathy  for  the  house  of  Cerdic  had 
been  seen  in  the  charge  brought  against  Godwine, 
and  the  misrule  of  Harald  and  Harthacnut  had  ren- 
dered the  succession  of  another  Dane  impossible. 
Even  Harthacnut  turned  to  his  mother  s  son ;  and 
ere  he  died  Eadward  was  summoned  by  the  king 
himself  from  his  refuge  in   Normandy,  and  recog- 
nized as  heir  to  the  throne. 

A  halo  of  tenderness  spread  in  after-time  round  ^jK 
this  last  king  of  the  old  English  stock.  Legend  Eadward. 
told  of  his  pious  simplicity,  his  blitheness  and  gen- 
tleness of  mood,  the  holiness  that  won  him  in  after- 
time  his  title  of  Confessor,  and  enshrined  him  as 
a  saint  in  the  abbey  church  at  Westminster.  His 
was  the  one  figure  that  stood  out  bright  against  the 
darkness  when  England  lay  trodden  underfoot  by 
Norman  conquerors ;  and  so  dear  became  his  mem- 
ory that  liberty  and  independence  itself  seemed  in- 
carnate in  his  name.  Instead  of  freedom,  the  sub- 
jects of  William  or  Henry  called  for  the  "good  laws 
of  Eadward  the  Confessor."  But  it  was,  in  fact,  as 
a  mere  shadow  of  the  past  that  the  exile  returned 
to  the  land  that  had  cast  him  out  in  his  childhood. 
His  blue  eyes  and  flaxen  hair,  indeed,  were  those  of 
his  race,  but  the  fragile  form,  the  delicate  complex- 
ion, the  transparent,  womanly  hands  of  Eadward 


.58       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  told  that  no  great  warrior  or  ruler  was  to  mount 
m     in  him  the  throne  of  y^thelstan  and  Eadgar.     He 
Godwin?,  was  a  stranger,  too,  in  the  realm.     Thirty  years  had 
1035^063  passed  since  the  child  had  been  driven  from  Eng- 
—     lish  shores,  and,  save   in    his  fruitless  descent   on 
Southampton,  he  had  never  touched  them   since. 
He  had  grown  to  manhood  at  the  Norman  court. 
His  memories  were  not  of  the  father  who  had  died 
in  his  childhood,  or  of  the  mother  who  had  forsaken 
him  through  long  years  of  exile,  but  of  the  Norman 
dukes  who  had  sheltered  him,  of  his  uncle,  Richard 
the  Good,  of  his  cousins,  Richard  and  Robert,  of 
Robert's  son,  William,  the  young  kinsman  who  was 
battling  with  a  storm  of  rebellion  and  treachery  in 
the  land  which  Bad  ward  loved.     In  all  but  name, 
indeed,  he  was  a  Norman.     He  spoke  the  Norman 
tongue ;    he  used,  in    Norman  fashion,  a  seal  for 
his  charters;  his  sympathies  lay  naturally  with  the 
friends  of  his  Norman  life.    The  Englishmen  among 
whom  he  found  himself  when  Harthacnut  summon- 
ed him  to  his  court  were  all  strangers  to  him,  and 
the  shy,  timid  exile  of  forty  had  neither  Cnut's  tem- 
per nor  Cnut's  youth  to  enable  him  to  throw  him- 
self into  new  associations.     It  is  characteristic  of 
Eadward's  sympathies  that,  ailing  as  his  half-brother 
was,  he  seems  again  to  have  quitted  England  after 
his  recognition  as  heir  to  the  crown,  and  to  have 
been  still  in    Normandy  in  the  summer  of   1042, 
when  Harthacnut  "  died  as  he  stood  at  his  drink  " 
at  a  marriage  feast  in  Lambeth. 
%'Ear     ^^  ^^^  v^^^'  indeed,  till  the  Easter-tide  of  1043  that 
ward,    Eadward  saw  himself  crowned  at  Winchester  by  the 
two  archbishops  as  English  king.    The  months  that 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^g 

lay  between  this  crowning  and  the  death  of  his  pred-  chap^x. 
ecessor  had  probably  been  months  of  busy  negotia-  The 
tion  with  the  English  nobles,  and  above  all  with  Godwine. 
the  Earl  of  Wessex.  For  jealously  as  he  had  been  1035I1053. 
looked  on  by  Harthacnut,  Godwine  was  still  the 
greatest  power  in  the  land.  Earl  Si  ward  was  hard- 
ly settled  in  his  distant  No'rthumbria,  and  the  mu- 
tilated Mercia  of  Leofric  could  not  vie  in  extent  or 
power  with  the  great  West-Saxon  earldom.  Wealth, 
character,  political  experience,  the  memory  of  his 
long  supremacy  under  Cnut,  and  of  his  personal 
sway  for  two  years  over  Wessex  after  Cnut's  death, 
as  well  as  a  sense  of  the  skill  and  daring  with 
which  he  had  faced  and  lived  through  the  ill-will 
of  Harald  and  the  hatred  of  Harthacnut,  gave  God- 
wine in  fact  at  this  moment  a  weight  beyond  that 
of  any  other  Englishman.  Nor  did  it  seem  likely 
that  this  weight  would  be  thrown  on  Eadward's  side. 
The  great  house  to  which  his  wife  belonged  seems 
to  have  clung  almost  as  closely  to  the  earl  as  his 
own  sons.  Two  of  her  brother  Ulf's  children,  Beorn 
and  Osbeorn,  were  in  England  at  this  time,  and 
closely  linked  to  the  earl,  \yhile  their  elder  brother, 
Swein  Estrithson,  as  he  was  called,  was  fighting  in 
the  northern  seas  for  the  crown  of  Denmark.  But 
at  the  news  of  Harthacnut's  death  Swein  sailed  back 
to  England  to  claim  a  crown  which  seemed  easier 
to  win.  Kinship,  gratitude,  political  tradition  alike 
seemed  to  sway  Godwine  to  Swein's  side,  both  in 
his  claims  to  the  Danish  and  the  English  thrones. 
The  earl  owed  all  to  Cnut,  and  Swein  was  not  only 
his  own  wife's  nephew,  but  he  was  Cnut's  sister's 
son,  and  nearest  in  blood,  now  Harthacnut  was  dead, 


.yQ  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  to  the  king  who  had  raised  Godvvine  to  the  power 
Th^     he  held.     His  support  of  Cnut's  will,  his  fidelity  to 

Gcdwine.  Harthacnut,  show  that  three  years  before  Godwine 
1035T053.  had  looked  to  a  union  of  the  crowns  of  England 
and  Denmark  as  of  high  political  value,  and  such  a 
union  might  easily  have  been  brought  about  by  the 
crowning  of  Swein,  and  his  return  to  the  North 
with  a  force  of  Englishmen.  But  whatever  may 
have  been  the  strength  of  God  wine's  family  sym- 
pathies, he  must  soon  have  seen  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  indulge  them.  As  in  his  stubborn  effort  to 
secure  half  England  for  Harthacnut,  Godwine  found 
himself  face  to  face  with  the  will  of  a  whole  people. 
The  worthlessness  of  Cnut's  children  had  wiped  out 
the  memory  of  Cnut's  greatness  and  wisdom.  It 
was,  indeed,  the  very  policy  of  Cnut,  the  English 
and  national  character  of  his  rule,  which  had  roused 
into  new  and  stronger  life  the  national  conscious- 
ness of  Englishmen — a  consciousness  which  now 
expressed  itself  in  the  sudden  assertion  of  their  will 
to  have  no  stranger  to  rule  over  them  but  one  of 
their  own  royal  stock.  Before  King  Harthacnut 
was  buried,  says  the  chronicle,  "  all  folk  chose  Ead- 
ward  for  their  king." 

M^rma^t.  ^^^^  ^^^^^'^  ^^^^  ^^^^^  disputc  amoug  the  nobles  at 
^y-  the  Witenagemot  shows  that  the  acclamation  of  the 
people  found  fierce  opposition  ;  while  the  assertion  of 
Swein  Estrithson  in  after-days  that  his  claim  was 
bought  off  by  a  promise  of  the  crown  should  he  out- 
live his  rival,  points  to  intricate  negotiations  before 
Eadward  was  accepted  by  all.  The  negotiations 
may  have  been  aided  in  some  measure  by  pressure 
from  the  Norman  court.     The  earlier  troubles  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       471 

the  young  duke's  reign  were  now  settling  down,  chap,  x. 
and  under  the  guardianship  of  Ralf  of  Wacey  the  The 
Norman  baronage  was  brought  back  into  a  partial  Godwine. 
obedience,  and  the  pacification  of  Normandy  was^Qg^Qgj 
aided  by  a  movement  which  fell  in  with  the  relig- 
ious  excitement  of  the  time.  In  the  universal  dis- 
order which  raged  over  feudal  Gaul,  men  turned  to 
the  Church  as  the  one  body  which  had  preserved 
some  sense  of  its  duty  to  save  men  from  oppression 
and  bloodshed.  Anarchy  had  been  worst  in  the 
south,  and  from  the  south  came  a  reaction  against 
it.  The  bishops  and  abbots  of  Aquitaine  met  in 
synod  to  bid  men  lay  aside  their  arms,  to  denounce 
the  warfare  and  robbery  about  them,  and  to  proclaim 
a  "  Truce  of  God."  As  the  preachers  preached 
this  new  gospel  the  crowds  they  gathered  stretched 
out  their  hands  to  heaven  with  shouts  of  "  Peace ! 
Peace  !"  The  "  Covenant  "  spread  like  fire  through 
southern  and  eastern  France,  but  the  first  zeal  of 
its  preachers  had  to  content  itself  with  more  mod- 
erate demands  on  human  passion  before  it  could 
penetrate  to  the  west,  and  the  universal  peace  dwin- 
dled to  a  suspension  of  arms  from  the  sunset  of 
Wednesday  to  the  sunrise  of  the  following  Monday. 
Even  this  proved  too  hard  a  doctrine  for  Norman 
ears.  But  a  timely  famine  backed  its  advocates 
with  signs  of  the  wrath  of  God,  and  the  duke 
pressed  the  truce  on  his  subjects.  A  great  council 
of  nobles  and  prelates,  gathered  at  Caen  in  1042, 
enacted  that  for  four  days  and  five  nights  in  every 
week  men  should  be  free  from  dread  of  wound  or 
death,  and  castle  and  borough  and  village  from 
dread  of  attack. 


472       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.       The  "  Truce,"  well  kept  or  ill,  aided  the  young 
The     duke's  efforts  to  restore  order  in  the  land.    William 

GoTwiiw.  was  no  longer  the  mere  child  whom  his  father  left 

1035T003  behind  him.     Young  as  he  was,  and  he  was  still  not 

fifteen,  he  must  have  been  already  showing  signs  of 

William,  the  huge  stature,  the  giant-like  strength,  which  lifted 
him  in  after-days  out  of  the  common  herd  of  men. 
From  boyhood  he  was  a  mighty  hunter,  and  the 
twang  of  the  bow  that  no  arm  but  his  could  wield 
was  heard  in  the  Norman  woodlands.  The  temper, 
too,  which  marked  his  later  years  was  ripening  un- 
der the  stress  of  his  eventful  history.  No  boy  ever 
had  a  rougher  training.  Friends  had  been  hewn 
down  or  poisoned  beside  him,  and  he  had  been 
driven  from  refuge  to  refuge  by  foes  who  would 
have  slain  him  if  they  could.  The  watchfulness, 
the  patience,  the  cunning,  which  lay  throughout  his 
life  side  by  side  with  a  mighty  energy  and  an  awful 
wrath  in  William's  temper,  had  their  first  upgrowth 
in  these  early  days  of  peril;  and  with  them  must 
have  been  already  awakening,  under  the  same  pres- 
sure, that  political  sense,  that  wide  outlook  and 
clearness  of  vision,  which  lifts  William  so  high 
above  the  statesmen  of  his  time. 
^ndZor-      ^^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  young  duke  himself  had  looked 

pia7td)'.  with  indifference  on  the  fortunes  of  a  kinsman 
whom  he  had  known  from  his  childhood,  the  sym- 
pathies of  his  nobles  would  have  been  with  one 
whom  they  looked  upon  as  himself  almost  a  Nor- 
man; and  if  we  set  aside  the  Norman  boast  that 
England  at  this  juncture  yielded  to  the  threats  of 
the  court  of  Rouen,  we  may  take  the  boast  at  least 
as  an  indication  that  the  influence  of  that  court  was 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 


473 


used  to  support  the  claim  of  Eadward.  Even  after  charx. 
his  recognition  as  king,  this  influence  must  still  The 
have  been  employed  in  overcoming  his  fears.  Ead-  Godwine. 
ward  seems  to  have  hung  back  from  the  crown.  ^ggJ^^Qog 
The  men  among  whom  he  was  to  go  were  strangers  — 
to  him  and  worse  than  strangers.  Those  who  were 
to  be  his  counsellors  had  been  the  counsellors  of 
kings  who  had  long  held  from  him  the  throne  of  his 
race.  Those  who  were  to  be  his  warriors  were  the 
men  who  had  but  a  year  before  driven  off  his  fleet 
from  Southampton.  The  memory  of  his  brother's 
murder  hung  about  him,  rankling  in  his  mind,  as 
we  shall  see,  for  years ;  and  the  most  powerful  of 
the  earls  who  called  him  to  the  English  throne  was 
the  man  whose  hands  he  believed  to  be  red  with 
his  brother's  blood.  If  the  Norman  story  be  true, 
it  was  not  till  hostages  for  his  safety  had  been  sent 
to  the  court  at  Rouen  that  Eadward  would  consent 
to  cross  the  seas.  When  he  landed  on  the  shores  of 
his  new  realm  he  brought  with  him  a  train  that 
showed  his  reliance  on  Norman  support.  In  later 
days  William  asserted  that  his  cousin,  prescient  of 
his  coming  childlessness,  had  promised  in  the  fash- 
ion which  was  getting  common  in  the  northern 
States,  and  of  which  there  had  been  many  instances 
among  the  Danish  kings,  to  bequeath  his  realm  to 
him  on  his  death.  That  this  was  so  is  likely  enough, 
though  the  bequest  was  one  which  English  nobles 
were  hardly  likely  to  recognize.  But  in  any  case 
the  young  duke  must  have  seen  the  shadow  of  his 
after-conquest  falling  over  England,  as  its  new  king 
sailed  from  Norman  shores  with  a  train  of  Norman 
knights  and  Norman  churchmen.    Foremost  among 


.J.  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.  these  in  rank  was  Eadward's  nephew,  Ralf,  a  son  of 
Th^     his  sister  Godgifu,  by  her  Norman  marriage  with 

GoZine.  Drogo  of  Mantes.  Another  Norman  kinsman,  Odo 
1035^053  ^^  Odda,  was  probably  in  his  train ;  and  Richard, 
—  the  son  of  Scrob,  may  have  been  among  the  Nor- 
man knights  who  formed  the  king's  guard.  Two 
Norman  priests,  William  and  Ulf,  came  as  his  chap- 
lains. But  closer  to  Eadward  stood  one  to  whom 
he  had  owed  much  in  his  exile,  and  his  affection 
for  whom  was  of  long  standing,  Robert,  abbot  of 
Jumieges.  Robert  either  accompanied  or  soon  fol- 
lowed the  king  to  England,  and  was  soon  seen  to 
possess  his  confidence  as  no  other  man  possessed  it. 

The  state  prom  the  moment  of  their  landing,  however,  the 
land,  king  and  his  group  of  strangers  found  themselves 
lonely  and  helpless  in  the  land.  With  his  accession, 
indeed,  the  long  struggle  of  the  ealdormen  for  a 
virtual  independence  seemed  at  last  to  have  reached 
its  aim.  The  land  appeared  about  to  break  up  into 
three  great  fiefs,  as  little  dependent  on  the  central 
monarchy  as  the  fiefs  of  the  continent.  Siward 
ruled  as  he  listed  in  the  north,  and  no  royal  writ 
ran  across  the  H umber.  Leofric  was  almost  as 
much  his  own  master  in  Mid-Britain.  Wessex,  in- 
stead of  giving  a  firm  standing-ground  to  the  house 
of  Cerdic,  was  now  in  the  hands  of  a  master  who 
overawed  the  crown.  Even  more  than  in  Cnut's 
days  Godwine's  voice  was  supreme  in  the  council- 
chamber.  The  policy  and  government  were  alike 
his  own,  and  in  both  he  showed  his  wonted  ability. 
Without,  indeed,  the  realm  was  secured  from  attack 
by  the  turn  of  foreign  affairs,  for  Normandy  was  a 
friend  to  the  Norman-bred  king,  and  the  strife  be- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


475 


tween   Magnus  of  Norway  and   Swein   Estrithson  chap.x. 
for  the  throne  of  Denmark  shielded  England  from     The 
any  invasion  by  the  Northmen.    Friendly  embassies,  Godwine^. 
too,  came  from  the  French  court,  while  the  earlier  j^g^^^g 
marriage  of  the  emperor,  Henry  III.,  with  Gunhild,     — 
a  daughter  of  Cnut  and  Emma,  had  linked  him  by 
blood  to   Eadward,  and  strengthened   the  friendly 
intercourse  between  the  German  and  English  courts 
which  had  gone  on  from  the  days  of  Eadward  the 
Elder.     Near  home  Gruffydd,  the  son  of  Llewelyn, 
was  building  up  a  formidable  powder  over  the  west- 
ern border,  but  he  was  too  busy  as  yet  with   his 
Welsh  rivals  to  seem  a  serious  danger ;  while  in  the 
north  Macbeth,  who  had  lately  risen,  through  the 
murder  of  King  Duncan,  to  the  throne  of  Scotland, 
showed  himself  a  peaceful  neighbor.     It  was  rather 
within  than  without  that  Godwine's  work  had  to  be 
done,  and  that  it  was  well  done  was  proved  by  the 
peace  of  the  land ;  while  the  popularity  which  he 
won  in  Wessex  shows  his  good  government  of  his 
own  earldom.' 

^'The  political  structure  of  Cnut's  administration,  indeed,  had 
been  tested  by  the  troubles  and  revolutions  which  followed  on  his 
death ;  and  the  new  strength  of  the  crown  was  shown  in  the  fact 
that  none  of  these  troubles  had  in  the  least  affected  that  structure. 
Even  the  fourfold  division  of  the  English  earldoms  and  the  sever- 
ance of  Wessex  from  the  crown  was  retained,  in  spite  of  the  return 
of  the  line  of  Wessex  to  the  throne.  Part  of  this,  no  doubt,  may- 
be due  to  the  influence  of  Godwine,  but.  in  fact,  the  continuance  of 
Godwine's  power  may  in  itself  be  looked  upon  as  a  proof  of  the 
strength  of  the  administrative  system  and  tradition  of  which  he 
was  the  embodiment.  That  system  remained,  indeed,  in  all  respects 
firmly  established  throughout  the  whole  reign  of  the  Confessor  to 
the  very  conquest  of  the  Normans.  The  military  organization  con- 
tinued unchanged,  as  we  see  later  from  the  hus-carls  quartered  at 
towns  like  Wallingford  and  DorchesteV ;  while,  from  the  description 


.y5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.       But  however  wise  and  successful  Godwine's  rule 

Th^     might  be,  we  shall  see  in  years  to  come  how  bitterly 

Godwi^^.  it  was  resented  by  the  king,  who  found  himself  a  pup- 

jQg— 53  pet  in  his  hands.     Eadward  was,  indeed,  powerless 

.  —     in  his  realm.     He  could  not  even  hope,  like  his  pred- 

Northuni-  eccssors,  to  suatch  a  fragment  of  authority  by  pit- 

^''''''     ting  one  great  noble  against  another.     In  Northum- 

bria,  Siward  had  but  just  won  his  earldom  by  a  deed 

of  blood.     By  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  a 

of  the  new  armament  used  by  Harold  in  his  later  wars  with  the 
Welsh,  it  was  clearly  with  this  picked  body  of  troops,  and  not 
with  the  fyrd  of  the  neighboring  shires,  that  he  won  his  victories 
in  south  Wales;  and  they  formed  the  real  strength  of  his  army 
both  at  Stamford  Bridge  and  at  Senlac.  Of  the  hoard  again  we 
catch  a  glimpse  in  the  legend  of  Hugolin,  which  shows  that  the 
Danegeld,  if  still  an  unpopular  tax,  was  yet  rigidly  levied,  and 
formed  the  mainspring  of  the  royal  finance ;  and  in  the  troubles 
of  Emma  we  see  the  first  instance  of  that  vital  importance  to  the 
crown  of  the  possession  of  the  hoard  or  treasure,  as  well  as  of  the 
command  of  the  body  of  huscarls,  whose  pay  was  drawn  from  it. 
The  administrative  machinery,  too,  was  not  only  maintained,  but 
developed  in  the  more  organized  form  which  the  Royal  Chapel 
assumed  under  Godwine  and  Harold,  an  incidental  proof  of  which 
is  given  in  the  adoption  of  the  Norman  practice  of  authenticating 
all  documents  issued  in  the  king's  name  by  the  royal  seal ;  a  step 
which  created  the  chancellor,  as  the  hoard  had  already  created  the 
treasurer,  and  as  the  levy  of  Danegeld,  and  the  necessity  of  giv- 
ing formal  acquittance  of  the  sums  levied  under  it  to  the  sheriffs, 
must  already,  in  however  inchoate  a  way,  have  originated  the  sys- 
tem of  the  Exchequer.  With  the  consolidation  of  the  royal  admin- 
istration no  doubt  there  went  on,  also,  a  corresponding  development 
of  the  royal  justice,  in  the  shape  of  appeals  to  the  king  himself  from 
subordinate  jurisdictions ;  and  with  the  growing  pressure  of  public 
business  we  find  that  the  great  office  which  had  been  instituted  by 
Cnut  in  his  appointment  of  a  secundarius,  was  continued  under 
the  Confessor  in  the  rule  of  Godwine  and  Harold,  the  predecessors 
of  the  Norman  justiciar.  At  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest, 
therefore,  the  administrative  system  which  has  sometimes  been 
called  Norman  was  already  growing  up  at  the  English  court,  and 
the  true  work  of  the  Conqueror  and  his  successors  lay  in  its  exten- 
sion and  development. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


477 


former  Northumbrian  earl,  Ealdred,  he  had,  in  1038,  chap.x. 
become  master  of  Deira  or  Yorkshire,  but  Bernicia  The 
had  passed  to  Ealdred's  brother,  Eadwulf.  Three  Godwin©! 
years  later,  however,  Eadwulf  was  cut  down  at  the^Qg^^gg 
very  court  of  Harthacnut,  by  Siward,  who  thus,  in  — 
1 04 1,  became  invested  with  the  whole  Northumbrian 
earldom  from  Humber  to  Tweed.  The  new  earl, 
with  his  giant  stature,  his  Danish  blood,  the  personal 
vigor  which  earned  him  the  surname  of  Digera,  or 
the  Strong,  was  a  fitting  representative  of  the  dis- 
trict over  which  he  ruled.  His  stern,  rough  hand- 
ling kept  the  wild  Northumbrians  in  awe ;  but 
dreaded  as  his  ruthlessness  might  be,  it  brought 
little  peace  or  order  to  the  land.'  Northumbria,  in- 
deed, stood  apart  from  the  rest  of  Britain.  The  old 
anarchy  had  deepened  with  the  settlement  of  the 
Danes.  The  roads  were  haunted  with  robbers,  so 
that  men  could  hardly  travel  with  safety  even  in 
companies  of  thirty  at  a  time ;  its  distance  from  the 
south  made  the  attendance  of  its  thegns  at  the  Wit- 
enagemots  scant  and  uncertain;  and  the  visits  of 
the  king,  which  in  Eadgar's  day  were  few,  seem  to 
have  ceased  altogether  under  the  Confessor.  It  was 
the  home  of  savage  feuds,  of  strife  handed  on  from 
father  to  son,  even  in  the  house  of  its  earls.  Mar- 
riage sat  as  lightly  on  them  as  bloodshedding;'  and 

^  "  Licet  dux  Siwardus  ex  feritate  judicii  valde  timeretur  tamen 
tanta  gentis  illius  crudelitas  et  Dei  incultus  habebatur  ut  vix  trigin- 
ta  vel  viginti  in  uno  comitatu  possent  ire  quin  aut  interficerentur 
aut  deprsedarentur  ab  insidiantiam  latronum  multitudine."  —  Vit. 
Edw.  (Luard),  p.  421. 

'  Earl  Uhtred,  who  held  Northumbria  under  ^thelred  and  Cnut, 
married  the  daughter  of  Bishop  Ealdhun  of  Durham,  and  with  her 
got  a  share  of  the  bishop's  lands.  He  sent  her  back,  however,  to 
her  father,  and  returned  her  lands  with  her ;  and  took  in  her  stead 


.yg  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  the  rude  violence  of  their  Hfe  was  unchecked  even 

Th^     by  religion.      Churches  gave  no  sanctuary  against 

Godwine^  dccds  of  blood,  and  since  the  conquest  of  the  north 

1035^53  ^  ^i^^  burgher's  daughter,  whose  father  gave  her  to  him  on  the  sim- 
—  pie  terms  that  he  should  kill  his  enemy  Thurbrand.  But,  as  he 
either  could  not  or  would  not  kill  Thurbrand,  the  burgher's  daugh- 
ter, in  time,  ceased  to  be  his  wife,  and  he  wedded  ^thelred's  daugh- 
ter ^Ifgifu. — Sim.  Durh.,  De  Obsess.  Dunelm.  (Twysden),  p.  80. 
And  with  this  loose  morality  went  savage  bloodshedding,  and  feuds 
of  vendetta  handed  on  from  father  to  son.  If  Uhtred  could  not  kill 
Thurbrand,  Thurbrand  owed  him  no  thanks  for  it.  When  Uhtred 
submitted  to  Cnut,  and  came  to  do  homage  "  at  a  place  called  Wi- 
heal"  (Freeman,  Norm.  Conq.  i.  376),  "a  curtain  was  drawn  aside," 
and  behind  it  stood  Thurbrand  with  armed  men,  who  forthwith  cut 
down  Uhtred  and  forty  of  his  companions.  The  feud  slumbered  till 
Ealdred,  Uhtred's  son  by  the  bishop's  daughter,  got  his  father's  earl- 
dom. Then,  whether  by  law  or  by  murder,  Thurbrand  was  slain. 
His  son  Carl  took  up  the  feud,  and  he  and  Earl  Ealdred  went  about 
seeking  each  other's  lives.  Friends  strove  to  make  peace  between 
them  ;  they  were  reconciled  ;  they  became  even  sworn  brothers  (ex- 
changing blood  ?) ;  they  vowed  to  go  on  pilgrimage  to  Rome  togeth- 
er; and  when  driven  back  by  stress  of  weather,  Carl  invited  Ealdred 
to  feast  at  his  house  and  hunt  in  his  woods.  There  in  the  woodland 
he  slew  him,  and  a  stone  cross  on  the  spot  recalled  the  crime  for 
centuries  after. — Sim.  Durh.,  De  Obsess.  Dunelm.  (Twysden),  p.  81. 
The  murder  of  his  brother  Eadwulf,  who  succeeded  him  in  Berni- 
cia,  began  the  fortunes  of  Siward.  But  Siward  had  married  Eal- 
dred's  daughter,  and  if  he  himself  slew  Ealdred's  brother,  the  blood- 
feud  with  Thurbrand's  house  for  Ealdred's  death  fell  none  the  less 
to  his  son.  Some  years  after  the  Norman  conquest,  as  Carl's  sons 
were  feasting  "  in  the  house  of  their  elder  brother  at  Seterington  in 
Yorkshire,"  and  unarmed,  a  body  of  Earl  Waltheof's  young  thegns 
fell  suddenly  upon  them.  "  The  whole  family — all  the  sons  and 
grandsons  of  Carl  —  were  cut  off,  save  one  son,  Sumorled,  who 
chanced  not  to  be  present,  and  another,  Cnut,  whose  character  had 
won  him  such  general  love  that  the  murderers  could  not  bring 
themselves  to  slay  him." — Freeman,  Norm.  Conq.  iv.  525 ;  Sim.  Durh., 
Gest.  Reg.  a.  1073;  and,  more  largely,  De  Obsess.  Dunelm.  (Twys- 
den), pp.  81,  82.  The  young  thegns  came  back  with  spoil — "  deletis 
fiiiis  et  nepotibus  Carli  reversi  sunt  multa  in  variis  speciebus  spolia 
reportantes"  (Sim.  Durh.,  De  Obsess.  Dunelm.,  Twysden,  p.  82), 
while  Waltheof  "avi  sui  interfectionem  gravissima  clade  vindica- 
vit"(Ibid.p.8i). 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.        ^yg 

by  the  Danes  not  a  single  monastery  of  any  historic  chap.x. 
importance  survived  in  the  land  once  thronged  by     The 
religious  houses.      Northumbria,  indeed,  wild  and  GodwLe! 
uncivilized  as  it  was,  gave  Siward  work  enough  to^Qg^Q^g 
do  in  simply  holding  it  down,  and  as  yet  prevented     — 
any  real  danger  to  the  power  of  Godwine  from  the 
northern  earl. 

Leofric  of  Mercia,  on  the  other  hand,  had  held  ^^^^i'^".  ^/ 
his  earldom  since  the  days  of  Cnut,<  and  claimed  to 
be  descended  from  royal  English  blood.  At  the 
death  of  Cnut  his  influence,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
been  strong  enough  to  match  the  power  of  Godwine, 
and  to  bring  about  the  division  of  England  between 
Harald  and  Harthacnut ;  and  his  importance  must 
have  increased  with  the  submission  of  all  England  to 
Harald  in  1037.  To  the  end  of  his  life  he  remained 
among  the  foremost  powers  of  the  land,  and  took 
rank  as  one  of  the  three  great  earls.  In  mere  extent, 
however,  Mercia  was  now  but  a  shadow  of  its  former 
self.  Even  in  the  days  of  Cnut  the  Hwiccas  of 
Worcestershire  formed  a  separate  government ;  un- 
der Harthacnut  the  breaking-up  of  Mercia  was  yet 
more  complete.  The  Magesaetas  of  Hereford  were 
gathered  into  a  distinct  earldom  on  the  west,  while 
the  eastern  provinces  of  Mercia  had  been  shorn  off 
to  form  a  new  earldom  of  the  Middle-English  of 
Leicester,  with  probably  Nottinghamshire  and  Lin- 
colnshire. Some  of  these  districts  returned  in  later 
days  to  the  house  of  Leofric,  and  even  at  this  time 
they  may  have  still  owned  his  supremacy,  but  his  di- 
rect rule  seems  to  have  been  confined  to  Cheshire, 
Staffordshire,  Shropshire,  and  the  border  of  north 
Wales. 


House  of 
Godwine. 

1035-1063. 


.go  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.  Not  only  did  Godwine's  experience  of  government, 
Th^  his  wealth,  his  ability,  lift  him  high  above  Siward  or 
Leofric,  but  the  very  earldom  he  held  far  outweighed 
the  earldoms  of  Mid-England  or  the  north.  Wes- 
sex  embraced  almost  all  southern  England,  and 
"  "^f  southern  England  was  the  wealthiest  and  most  im- 

Wessex.  ^^^^^^^  p^j.^  ^f  ^^  realm.  The  full  effects,  indeed, 
of  the  separation  of  Wessex  from  the  crown,  and  its 
formation  into  an  earldom,  could  hardly  be  felt  in 
Cnut's  day,  while  all  England  was  still  but  a  part  of 
a  larger  empire;  but  they  were  felt  in  the  days  of 
the  Confessor,  when  the  hereditary  king  of  the  West- 
Saxons  found  himself  displaced  from  his  own  native 
realm  by  Godwine  and  his  house.  Eadward  was 
the  first  descendant  of  ^^Ifred  w^ho  was  not  lord  of 
Wessex.  He  had,  indeed,  no  local  hold  on  the  land 
at  all;  he  was  simply  king;  and  it  may  possibly  have 
been  owing  to  this  that  he  found  his  home  no  long- 
er at  Winchester,  but  at  Westminster.  The  fact, 
indeed,  that  this  creation  of  a  West-Saxon  earldom, 
so  obviously  a  mere  expedient  to  meet  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  Danish  rule,  was  not  at  once  reversed, 
and  the  old  connection  of  Wessex  with  the  crown 
restored  on  the  accession  of  the  Confessor,  shows 
how  absolutely  powerless  that  king  was,  from  the 
first,  in  the  hands  of  Earl  Godwine.  Nor  could  Ead- 
ward look  to  either  of  the  rival  earls  for  aid  in  dis- 
puting with  the  all-powerful  Godwine  the  mastery 
of  his  kingdom.  And  yet,  by  a  singular  irony  of 
fate,  it  was  just  through  this  mastery  of  Godwine's 
that  England  remained  a  kingdom  at  all.  Had  the 
three  earldoms  been  of  equal  weight,  or  their  pos- 
sessors men  of  the  same  temper,  the  energies  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  481 

Godwine,  as  of  his  fellow-earls,  might  have  been  charx. 
spent  in  the  building-up  of  a  separate  dominion.     It     The 

1  '  ••i.  f  ni'i  House  of 

was  his  superiority  01  power  as  well  as  his  keener  Godwine. 
ambition  that  drew  him  from  the  mere  establish- ^^3^053 
ment  of  a  great  fief  to  the  larger  ambition  of  ruling     — 
the  land. 

With  such  an  aim  the  earl  saw  that  his  profit  lay  ^'-^  M'o'- 
not  in  weakening  or  annihilating  the  authority  of  the 
crown,  but  in  seizing  that  authority  for  his  own  pur- 
poses, and  in  paving  the  way,  by  a  dexterous  use  of 
Eadward,  for  the  succession  of  the  house  of  Godwine 
to  the  throne.  Such  a  design  can  alone  account 
for  the  steady  policy  of  annexation  by  which  he  at 
once  began  to  draw  all  England  into  his  own  hands 
or  those  of  his  kindred.  The  importance  of  keeping 
watch  over  Wales,  and  of  preserving  the  means  of 
communication  with  it  as  Gruffydd  built  up  a  na- 
tional sovereignty,  may  explain  the  establishment  of  . 
Godwine's  eldest  son,  Swein,  in  the  border-district  of 
Hereford.  But  a  new  earldom  was  created  for  him 
by  the  addition  to  this  district  of  two  other  Mercian 
shires,  the  shires  of  Oxford  and  Gloucester;  and 
this  earldom  was  again  swelled  by  the  detachment 
of  Berkshire  and  Somerset  from  Godwine's  own 
Wessex.  The  position  of  Oxford  as  commanding 
the  line  of  the  Thames,  and  of  Gloucester  as  com- 
manding the  lower  Severn,  gave  Swein's  earldom  a 
military  as  well  as  a  political  importance.  But  while 
in  Swein  the  house  of  Godwine  pressed  upon  the 
west,  a  grant  of  the  East-Anglian  earldom  to  the 
second  son,  Harold,  gave  it  the  mastery  of  the  east. 
In  the  very  heart  of  England,  Godwine  set  his  ne- 
phew, Beorn,  a  brother  of  Swein  Estrithson,  as  earl 

31 


.g2       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  of  the  Middle-English  about  Leicester.     The  addi- 

Th^     tion  to  Beorn's  earldom  of  Nottingham  and  the  old 

Godwine!  land  of  the  Gyrwas  and  Lindiswaras  made  him  mas- 

,«or7n«o  ter  of  the  Trent,  as  Swein  of  the  Severn  and  the 

1030-10D3.  1       1       T^         T    1  c 

—  Thames ;  and  by  1045  the  whole  bnghsh  coast  from 
Humber  round  to  Severn  mouth  had  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  house  of  Godwine. 
Extension  ^^^  ^^s  this  all.  Two  ycars  after  the  king's  cor- 
poiver.  ouation,  Eadgyth,  Godwine's  daughter,  became  Ead- 
ward's  wife.  We  can  hardly  doubt  the  meaning  of 
this  step.  In  setting  Eadgyth  beside  the  king,  God- 
wine aimed  at  meeting  the  secret  hostility  of  the 
court  and  detaching  Eadward  from  the  Norman 
councillors,  who,  as  he  was  conscious,  were  busy 
working  against  him.  The  influence  of  Robert  of 
Jumi^ges,  who  had  been  appointed  Bishop  of  London 
a  year  before,  was  as  certain  as  his  ill-will,  and  the 
memory  of  his  brother's  doom  was  stirred  busily  in 
Eadward's  mind  by  the  strangers  round  him.  But 
so  vast  a  stride  towards  the  mastery  of  the  realm  as 
Godwine  was  making  would  of  itself  awake  Ead- 
ward's suspicion,  and  hardly  fail  to  rouse  jealousy  in 
other  minds  besides  the  king's.  The  house  of  God- 
wine had  no  hold  on  the  north.  In  central  England 
Leofric  could  hardly  look  with  satisfaction  on  the 
advancing  supremacy  of  his  old  rival.  Godwine 
might  still,  indeed,  have  defied  the  efforts  of  the  Nor- 
man courtiers,  and  the  jealousies  of  his  fellow-earls, 
had  he  retained  the  confidence  of  the  nation  at 
large.  But  the  national  trust  w^hich  his  good  govern- 
ment had  won  was  at  this  moment  shaken  by  the 
deeds  of  one  who  stood  next  to  him  in  his  own  house. 
The  first  blow  at  Godwine's  power  came  from 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       .3^ 


the  lawless  temper  of  his  eldest  son,  Swein.     In  the  chap,  x. 
opening  of  1046,  a  year  after  Eadgyth's  marriage,     The 
Swein  carried  off  the  Abbess  of  Leominster  from  her  Godwine! 
nunnery,  and  sent  her  back  great  with  child.     Such^^g^gg 
an  act  was  too  darinsr  an  outragje  on  the  relisfious  „.r~, . 
feehng  of  the  country  to  pass  unheeded.    Ere  Christ-      of 
mas  came  the  young  earl  fled,  outlawed,  it  would 
seem,  from  his  earldom  to  the  court  of  Bruges ;  in 
the  summer  of  1047  he  again  left  Baldwin's  land, 
perhaps  to  take  part  in  the  war  in  the  Northern  seas. 
Godwine  was  carefully  watching  the  changes  which 
went  on  in  the  North,  for  both  the  rival  claimants 
to  the  dominions  of  Harthacnut,  Magnus  and  Swein, 
alike  laid  claim  to  the  English  crown.     But  a  year 
before,  Magnus  had  threatened  England  with  inva- 
sion, and  a  great  fleet  had  been  gathered  at  Sand- 
wich to  meet  his  expected   attack.      It   had  been 
averted  by   successes  of  Swein   Estrithson,  which 
drew  the  host  of  Magnus  to  Denmark  instead  of  the 
Channel ;  but  the  Norwegian  king  was  now  again 
victorious,  and  his  triumph  promised  a  renewal  of 
the  danger  to  England.     Swein  had  been  driven 
from  all  but  a  fragment  of  the  Danish  realm;  the 
union  of  Denmark  and  Norway  seemed  certain  ;  and 
the  forces  of  the  two  realms  in  the  hands  of  Magnus 
would  in  such  a  case  have  been  thrown  on  English 
shores. 

It  was  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  Swein  hastened  oppositwt 
to  his  cousin's  help ;  or  that  Godwine  proposed  in    poiuy. 
the  Witan  of  1047  ^^  send  a  squadron  of  fifty  ships 
to  support  his  nephew's  cause.     But  politic  as  the 
plan  was,  it  met  with  a  resistance  which  shows  how 
greatly  the  earl's  influence  was  shaken.     The  pro- 


.g.       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.  posal,  It  is  said  at  Leofric's  instigation,  was  rejected, 
The  and  Swein  Estrithson  was  left  to  fight  his  battle 
Godwin?  alone.  The  result  was  the  coming  of  that  peril 
1035T053  which  Godwine  foresaw.  A  new  and  overwhelming 
—  defeat  drove  Swein  from  his  last  hold  in  Denmark, 
and  brought  about  the  submission  of  the  whole  Dan- 
ish kingdom  to  Magnus.  Luckily  for  England,  the 
conqueror's  death  at  once  followed  his  victory,  and 
the  two  Northern  lands  again  parted  from  one  an- 
other. Harald  Hardrada  became  king  in  Norway; 
Swein  Estrithson  was  welcomed  back  by  the  Danes ; 
and  the  strife  which  shielded  England  from  Scandi- 
navian attack  broke  out  afresh  on  more  equal  terms. 
The  decision  of  the  Witan  was  far  from  proving  any 
heedlessness  of  the  safety  of  the  realm ;  had  the  at- 
tack come  which  Godwine  feared,  an  English  fleet 
was  ready  at  this  very  time  to  meet  it  in  the  Chan- 
nel. Their  will  was  simply  against  intervention  in 
the  North  itself,  against  actual  meddling  in  a  distant 
quarrel,  and  no  doubt  against  spending  English 
blood  in  the  support  of  a  nephew  of  Godwine. 
Enough,  it  may  have  been  thought,  had  been  done 
for  Godwine's  house  at  home.  England  could  hard- 
ly be  called  on  to  spend  blood  and  treasure  in  win- 
ning a  throne  for  his  nephew  abroad.  But  behind 
this  natural  hesitation  of  wiser  men  stirred  the  bit- 
ter enmity  of  the  Norman  group  which  Eadward 
had  gathered  round  him.  Even  at  this  moment 
their  opposition  took  a  new  vigor  from  the  events 
which  were  passing  over  sea. 
^^11^'''  Ever  since  his  kinsman  left  Normandy  for  the 
Laiifranc.  English  shorcs,  William  had  been  slowly  rising  to 
his  destined  greatness.      Troubles  on  the  French 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       485 

frontier,  occasional  outbreaks  of  a  baron  here  and  charx. 
there,  failed  to  shake  the  hold  on  the  land  which  The 
tightened  with  every  day  of  the  young  duke's  grasp.  Godwine. 
Round  him  the  men  who  were  to  play  their  part  in  1035I1053 
our  history  were  already  grouping  themselves.  Will-  — 
iam  Fitz-Osbern  was  growing  up  as  William's  friend 
and  adviser.  The  duke's  half-brother,  Odo,  was  al- 
ready Bishop  of  Bayeux.  But  chance  had  brought 
a  wiser  counsellor  to  William's  side  than  Odo  or 
Fitz-Osbern.  In  the  early  years  of  his  rule,  Lan- 
franc,  a  wandering  scholar  from  Lombardy,  had 
opened  a  school  at  Avranches.  Lanfranc  was  the 
son  of  a  citizen  of  Pavia,  where  he  had  won  fame 
for  skill  in  the  Roman  law.  Whether  driven  out  by 
some  civil  revolution,  or  drawn  by  love  of  teaching 
to  the  west,  Lanfranc  made  his  way  to  Normandy; 
and,  troubled  as  was  the  time,  the  fame  of  his  school 
at  Avranches  soon  spread  throughout  the  land.  A 
religious  conversion,  however,  interrupted  his  work. 
Lanfranc  quitted  his  scholars  to  seek  the  poorest 
and  lowliest  monastery  he  could  find  in  Normandy, 
and  came  at  last  to  a  little  valley  edged  in  with 
woods  of  ash  and  elm,  through  which  a  "  bee,"  or 
rivulet,  ran  down  to  the  Risle,  where  Herlouin,  a 
knight  of  Brionne,  had  found  shelter  from  the  world. 
Herlouin  was  busy  building  an  oven  with  his  own 
hands  when  the  stranger  greeted  him  with  "  God 
save  you."  "  Are  you  a  Lombard  ? "  asked  the 
knight-abbot,  struck  with  the  foreign  look  of  the  man. 
"  I  am,"  he  replied  :  and  praying  to  be  made  a  monk, 
Lanfranc  fell  down  at  the  mouth  of  the  oven  and 
kissed  Herlouin's  feet.  The  religious  impulse  was 
a  real  one ;  but  in  spite  of  the  break  from  the  world 


.86       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  and  its  learning  which  Lanfranc  sought  in  this  re* 
The     tirement  at  Bee,  he  was  destined  to  be  known  as  a 

Godwine!  great  scholar  and  statesman  rather  than  as  a  saint. 

1035T053.  ^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^  dreamed  of  seeking  a  yet 
—  sterner  refuge  in  some  soHtude.  The  abbot's  will 
chained  him  to  the  monastery,  and  Lanfranc's  teach- 
ing raised  Bee  in  a  few  years  into  the  most  famous 
school  in  Christendom.  The  zeal  which  drew  schol- 
ars and  nobles  alike  to  the  little  house  of  Herlouin 
was,  in  fact,  the  first  wave  of  an  intellectual  move- 
ment which  was  now^  spreading  from  Italy  to  the 
ruder  countries  of  the  West.  The  whole  mental 
activity  of  the  time  concentrated  itself  in  the  group 
of  scholars  who  gradually  gathered  round  Lanfranc  ; 
the  fabric  of  the  canon  law  and  of  mediaeval  scholas- 
ticism, with  the  philosophic  scepticism  which  first 
awoke  under  its  influence,  all  trace  their  origin  to 
Bee.  But  Lanfranc  was  to  be  more  than  a  great 
teacher.  The  eye  of  the  young  duke  saw  in  the 
Lombard  one  who  was  fitted  to  second  his  own  ar- 
dent genius ;  and  in  no  long  time  the  prior  of  Bee 
stood  high  among  his  counsellors. 

Revolt  in      William  was  soon  to  need  wise  counsel.     Younec 

Norman-  c> 

dy.  as  he  was,  the  pressure  of  his  heavy  hand  already 
warned  the  strongest  that  they  must  fight  or  obey. 
In  the  more  settled  land  about  the  Seine  order  was 
now  fairly  established ;  and  in  the  coming  contest 
it  held  firmly  by  the  duke.  But  in  the  Bessin  and 
Cotentin,  where  the  old  heathen  and  Norse  tradi- 
tions had  been  strengthened  by  recent  Danish  set- 
tlements, the  passion  for  independence  was  strong. 
The  greatest  lords  of  the  Cotentin  and  the  Bessin— 
Neal  of  St.  Sauveur,  Randolf  of  Bayeux,  Hamon  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       487 

Thorigny,Grimbald  of  Plessis — waited  but  the  signal  chap.  x. 
to  rise.     And  in  1047  ^^e  signal  was  given.     Hith-     The 
erto  his  bastard  birth  had  done  William  little  hurt,  eodwine. 
for  of  the  descendants  of  Richard  the  Fearless  or  1035^053. 
Richard  the    Good   who  might    have   claimed  his 
duchy,  some  were  churchmen,  some  had  perished  in 
the  troubles  of  his  youth,  one  had  been  his  guardian 
and  protector ;  while  his  cousin  Guy,  grandson  of 
Richard  the  Good  by  his  daughter's  marriage  with 
a  Count  of  Burgundy,  had  been  reared  from  child- 
hood with  William  and  gifted  with  broad  lands  at 
Vernon  and  Brionne.     But  Guy  saw  in  the  temper 
of  the  west  a  chance  of  winning  the  duchy  from 
the  bastard,  and  its  lords  were  quick  at  answering 
his  call. 

So  secret  was  the  plot  that  William  was  hunting    Voi-h- 

^ Jn  the  woods  of  the  Cotentin  when  the  revolt  broke 

out,  and  only  a  hasty  flight  from  Valognes  to  Falaise 
saved  him  from  capture.  As  he  dashed  through 
the  fords  of  Vire  with  Grimbald  on  his  track  the 

- — ^Bessin  and  Cotentin  were  already  on  fire  behind 
him ;  and  their  barons  gathered  at  Bayeux  swore  on 
the  relics  of  the  saints  that  they  would  smite  Will- 
iam wherever  they  might  find  him.  They  were 
soon  to  find  him  on  the  battle-field.  The  men  of 
the  more  settled  duchy  beyond  the  Dive,  the  men  of 
Caux  and  Hiesmes,  the  burghers  of  Lisieux  and 
Rouen,  of  Evreux  and  Falaise,  stood  firmly  by  the 
duke.  But  William  had  no  mind  to  stand  the 
shock  alone.  Hardly  twenty  as  he  was,  his  cool 
head  already  matched  the  hot  ardor  of  his  youth; 
and  he  rode  across  the  border  to  throw  himself  at 
the  feet  of  the  French  king  and  beg  for  aid.     The 


^38       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  old  alliance  between  the  house  of  Hrolf  and  the 
Th^     house  of  Hugh  Capet,  shaken  as  it  had  been  of  late, 

Godwuie^  was  still   strong   enough    to    secure    the    help    he 

1035T063.  sought ;  and  King  Henry  himself  headed  a  body  of 
—  troops  which  stood  beside  William's  Normans  on  the 
field  of  Val-es-Dunes,  to  the  southeastward  of  Caen. 
The  fight  that  followed  was  little  more  than  a  fierce 
combat  of  horse  surging  backwards  and  forwards 
over  the  slopes  of  the  upland  on  which  it  was  fought, 
and  ended  in  the  rout  of  the  rebel  host.  The  mills 
of  the  Orne  were  choked  with  the  bodies  of  men 
slain  in  its  fords  or  drowned  in  its  stream. 

William's  The  victory  at  Val-es-Dunes  was  the  turning- 
point  in  William's  career.  It  was  not  merely  that 
he  had  shown  himself  a  born  warrior,  that  horse  and 
man  had  gone  down  before  his  lance,  that  he  had 
faced  and  routed  the  bravest  warriors  of  the  Bessin ; 
nor  was  it  only  that  with  this  victory  the  struggle  of 
the  wild  Northman  element  in  the  duchy  against  civ- 
ilization, against  the  French  tongue,  against  union 
with  Western  Christendom,  was  to  cease.  It  was 
that  William  had  mastered  Normandy.  "  Nor- 
mans," said  a  Norman  poet,  "  must  be  trodden  down 
and  kept  under  foot,  for  he  only  that  bridles  them 
may  use  them  at  his  need ;"  and  the  young  duke 
had  bridled  them  to  use  them  in  a  need  which  was 
soon  to  come.  The  valor  which  had  so  suddenly 
withstood  him  on  the  downs  above  Caen  gave  itself 
from  that  hour  into  its  master's  hands,  and,  mere 
youth  of  twenty  as  he  was,  William  stood  lord  of 
Normandy  as  no  duke  had  stood  its  lord  before ;  lord 
of  a  Normandy  whose  restless  vigor  was  spending 
itself  as  yet  in  the  winning  of  realms  for  adventurers 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       489 

over  sea,  but  was  ready  to  spend  itself  now  in  win-  chap.  x. 
ning  realms  for  its  duke  nearer  home.     Far  off  as     The 
the  conquest  was,  it  was  at  Val-es-Dunes  that  Will-  Jodwine! 
iam  fought  -his  first  fight  for  the  crown  of  Cerdic.  1035I1053 
It  was  the  men  who  had  sworn  to  smite  him,  on  the     — 
relics  of  Bayeux,  who  were  to  win  for  him  England. 

It  was    France,  however,  rather   than   Enorland,    ^r"'f 

.  o  '  aud  Aujou. 

which  directly  felt  the  change  in  William's  attitude, 
for  in  the  year  after  Val-es-Dunes,  William  measured 
swords  with  the  greatest  of  the  then  French  powers. 
Girt  in  on  every  side  by  great  feudatories,  the 
crowned  descendants  of  Hugh  Capet  had  been' 
saved  from  utter  ruin  by  the  firm  support  of  the 
dukes  of  Normandy  and  the  counts  of  Anjou.  It  was 
the  Norman  sword  which  had  aided  them  to  resist 
Burgundian  disloyalty,  and  it  was  the  sword  of  Nor- 
man and  Angevin  alike  which  saved  them  from  the 
ambitious  supremacy  of  the  house  of  Blois.  But  it 
was  just  these  two  powers  whose  growth  had  now 
changed  them  from  supports  of  the  French  crown 
into  its  most  formidable  dangers,  and  the  policy  of 
the  French  kings,  unable  to  meet  either  single- 
handed,  became  more  and  more  a  policy  of  balance 
between  them.  At  this  time  Anjou  was  the  more 
pressing  of  the  two  foes.  From  a  small  province 
on  either  side  the  lower  course  of  the  Mayenne, 
with  a  few  castles  scattered  over  the  lands  of  Blois 
and  Touraine  to  the  south  and  to  the  east  of  it,  it 
had  grown  into  the  largest  and  most  powerful  state 
of  central  France.  Southern  Touraine  had  been 
gradually  absorbed.  Northern  Touraine  had  been 
won  bit  by  bit.  A  victory  of  the  Angevin  count, 
Geoffrey  Martel,  left  Poitou  at  his  mercy,  and  the 


.go       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  seizure  of  Maine  brought  his  dominion  to  the  Nor- 
The     man  frontier.     Geoffrey  was  soon  at  war  with  the 

Godwine^  king,  and  it  was  to  purchase  William's  aid  against 

1035T053  t^^^  powerful  vassal  that  King  Henry  had  helped 
—     the  duke  to  put  down  the  revolt  of  the  Cotentin. 

War  with  The  baro:ain  was  faithfully  carried  out,  and  the 
victory  of  Val-es-Dunes  was  hardly  won  when  the 
young  duke  and  his  Normans  joined  Henry  in  an 
attack  on  the  Count  of  Anjou.  A  wooded  hill- 
country  formed  the  southern  border  of  the  Norman 
duchy,  and  from  the  hills  of  Vire  and  Mortagne  the 
rivers  Mayenne  and  Sarthe  flow  down  to  the  heart 
of  Geoffrey's  country,  to  Le  Mans  and  Angers.  It 
was  on  this  border  that  war  broke  out  in  1048,  cen- 
tring round  Domfront  and  Alen9on,  towns  which 
command  the  head-waters  of  the  two  streams.  But 
the  duke's  success  was  as  rapid  and  decisive  as  be- 
fore. While  Geoffrey  marched  to  meet  the  French 
army,  William  surprised  Alen9on,  avenged  the  insult 
of  its  burghers,  who  had  hung  skins  over  its  walls 
on  his  approach,  with  shouts  of  "  Hides  for  the  tan- 
ner," by  ruthlessly  hewing  off  hands  and  feet,  and 
returned  as  rapidly  to  secure  the  surrender  of  Dom- 
front. The  quick,  sturdy  blows  put  an  end  to  the 
war;  Geoffrey  Martel  made  peace  with  king  and 
duke,  and  the  peace  left  the  two  fortresses  he  had 
won  in  the  hands  of  William,  to  serve  as  a  base  for 
his  future  conquest  of  Maine. 

Norman       jf  Val-cs-Dunes  had  left  William  master  of  Nor- 

aims  in 

England,  maudy,  the  defeat  of  Count  Geoffrey  left  him  first 
among  the  powers  of  France.  But  it  was  not 
France  only  which  was  watching  William's  course. 
His  new  strength  told  at  once  on  English  politics. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^i 

The  victory  of  his  cousin  over  the  rebels  who  would  chap.  x. 
have  made  him  a  puppet  duke  must  have  spurred  The 
Eadward  to  struggle  against  the  earl  who  had  made  Godwine! 
him  a  puppet  king,  and  his  little  group  of  foreign  ^^jg^^^gg 
counsellors  would  watch  the  triumphs  that  followed  — 
Val-es-Dunes  as  if  every  victory  of  William  was  a 
blow  at  Godwine  and  his  house.  We  shall  soon 
see  that  William  himself  was  watching  closely  the 
struggle  between  Godwine  and  the  king.  What 
shape  the  young  duke's  dreams  may  have  taken, 
whether  he  had  already  conceived  the  design,  which 
was  two  years  later  disclosed,  of  following  his  cousin 
Eadward  on  the  English  throne,  we  cannot  tell. 
But  communications  must  have  already  passed  be- 
tween the  Norman  group  around  Eadward  and  the 
court  of  Rouen ;  and  the  nomination  of  an  English 
prelate  from  among  the  circle  of  Norman  courtiers 
showed  the  new  confidence  which  Eadward  was 
drawing  from  his  cousin's  victories.  In  the  year 
of  William's  triumph  over  Geoffrey  Martel,  one  of 
the  king's  Norman  chaplains,  Ulf,  was  raised  to  the 
see  of  Dorchester,  a  diocese  w^hich  stretched  from 
the  Humber  to  the  Thames.  As  yet,  however, 
there  was  nothing  in  William's  attitude  to  mark 
hostility  to  the  house  of  Godwine.  But  the  next 
step  in  the  young  duke's  policy  was  to  set  their 
attitude  to  each  other  in  a  clearer  light. 

Already  the  course  of  events  was  drawing  Eng-  Flanders. 
land  into  relations  with  the  western  world  at  once 
closer  and  more  extensive  than  any  she  had  formed 
since  the  days  of  ./Ethelstan.  The  first  breath  of 
the  later  Conquest  passes  over  us  as  English  poli- 
tics interweave  themselves  with  the  politics  not  of 


1035-1053. 


.Q2  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  Scandinavia  only,  but  of  Normandy  and  France,  of 
Th^      Flanders  and  Boulogne,  of  the  Empire  and  the  Pa- 

Godwine^  pacy.  It  was  to  this  wider  field  that  the  contest 
between  Godwine  and  the  Normans  was  to  drift; 
and  to  follow  the  thread  of  English  politics  at  this 
moment  we  have  to  turn  to  Flanders.  Flanders 
was  now  one  of  the  leading  states  of  Western 
Christendom.  The  wild  reach  of  forest  and  fen 
which  Caesar  had  seen  stretching  along  the  Scheldt 
and  the  Lower  Rhine,  a  region  veiled  in  bitter  mist 
and  swept  by  the  frost-winds  of  the  Northern  seas, 
had  been  subdued  by  the  Roman  sword,  and  won 
from  the  dying  empire  by  men  of  kindred  stock 
with  the  English  conquerors  of  Britain.  A  portion 
of  this  wild  land,  the  great  triangle  of  territory  be- 
tween the  Scheldt,  the  Channel,  and  the  Somme, 
which  was  known  as  Flanders,  became  a  county  in 
the  storm  of  the  Danish  inroads.  Its  counts  won 
their  lordship  by  hard  fighting  against  the  North- 
men. But  the  quick  rise  of  Flanders  to  wealth  and 
greatness  was  due  to  the  temper  of  the  Flemings 
themselves.  At  the  time  we  have  reached  their 
steady  toil  was  already  laying  the  foundation  of  that 
industrial  greatness  which  the  land  preserved 
through  the  Middle  Ages,  and  of  that  commercial 
activity  which  was  to  make  it  ere  a  hundred  years 
had  gone  by  the  mart  of  the  world.  The  industry 
of  the  Flemings  found  from  the  first  a  shelter  in 
their  counts.  All  the  traditions  of  the  country  as- 
cribed to  its  rulers  a  love  of  justice  which  lifted 
them  above  the  princes  of  their  time.  Story  told 
how  Lyderic,  the  founder  of  their  race,  beheaded  his 
eldest  son  for  taking  a  basket  of  apples  from  an  old 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^g^ 

woman  without  payment.     The  very  feuds  of  the  chai\x. 
land  were  bounded  by  strict  rule.      Baron  might     The 
wage  his  petty  war  with  baron ;  but  old  usage  and  Godwine. 
enacted  law  forbade  the  extension  of  the  strife  to  103^053. 
husbandman  or  trader.     Hot  as  the  quarrel  might 
be,  too,  fighting  was  its  only  outlet,  for  none  might 
harry  or  imprison  within  the  count's  domain. 

It  was  in  the  peace  and  order  which  this  strict  ^-^-^ '^'/^''- 

^  ...  iance, 

rule  secured  that  the  Flemings  toiled  their  way  to 
wealth.  The  counts  understood  and  identified 
themselves  with  their  people's  love  of  industry  and 
freedom,  and  Arnulf  the  Old,  our  Alfred's  grandson 
by  the  mother's  side,  became  the  Alfred  of  Flemish 
history.  The  little  boroughs  of  the  land  grew  up, 
for  the  most  part,  beneath  the  shelter  of  its  vast  ab- 
beys; names  such  as  those  of  St.  Omer,  St.  Gher- 
kin, St.  Amand,  St.  Vedast,  show  that  municipal  life 
was  almost  a  creation  of  the  Church.  Even  the 
lordly  Ghent  of  after-days  was  but  a  borough  which 
had  clustered  round  the  abbey  of  St.  Bavon.  But  it 
was  to  Arnulf  that  tradition  ascribed  the  institution 
of  the  great  fairs  which  raised  them  into  centres  of 
commercial  life,  as  well  as  the  introduction  of  the 
weaving  trade  which  made  Flanders  the  earliest 
manufacturing  country  of  Western  Christendom. 
With  equal  sagacity  the  counts  saw  that  the  most 
precious  gift  they  could  confer  on  this  rising  indus- 
try was  the  gift  of  freedom.  "  Little  charm,"  says 
Baldwin  of  Mons,  "is  there  in  a  town  for  men  to 
dwell  therein  save  it  be  sheltered  by  the  uttermost 
liberty."  The  freedom  of  settlement,  the  security 
of  trade,  the  right  of  justice  within  their  walls,  the 
liberty  of  bequest  and  succession,  which  the  Flem- 


1035-1053. 


.g.  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  ish  boroughs  were  already  acquiring,  were  soon  to 
Th^     ripen   into   an    almost   complete   self-government. 

Godwine^  The  rapid  prosperity  of  the  country  gave  a  corre- 
sponding importance  to  its  rulers;  and  this  impor- 
tance was  heightened  by  the  situation  of  Flanders  as 
a  border-land'  between  France  and  the  Empire. 
Feudatories  of  the  emperor  as  of  the  king  at  Paris, 
though  for  different  portions  of  their  dominion,  the 
counts  soon  learned  to  use  their  double  allegiance 
to  win  a  practical  independence  of  either  suzerain. 
The  present  ruler  of  Flanders,  Baldwin  of  Lille,  had 
reached  a  yet  higher  position  than  his  predecessors. 
His  wife  was  the  sister  of  King  Henry  of  France. 
He  was  among  the  most  powerful  vassals  of  the 
Empire. 

Revival       jhe  Empire  had  risen  at  this  moment  to  a  height 

Empire,  unkuowu  siucc  the  days  of  Charles  the  Great;  a 
height  from  which  it  was  from  that  hour  slowly  to 
fall.  The  wide  dominion  of  Charles  had  been 
broken  up  by  the  quarrels  of  his  house,  the  incur- 
sions of  the  Northmen,  and  the  rise  of  a  national 
temper  in  the  peoples  whom  he  had  bound  into  a 
state.  But  the  tradition  of  a  single  Christendom 
with  one  temporal  as  with  one  spiritual  head  lived 
on  in  the  minds  of  men ;  and  in  the  German  king 
Otto  the  Great  the  tradition  again  became  a  living 
fact.  Conqueror  of  Italy,  crowned  at  Rome  as  Em- 
peror of  the  world,  the  claims  of  Otto  to  the  suprem- 
acy of  Western  Christendom  found  no  acknowledg- 
ment in  Spain,  in  what  we  now  call  France,  nor  in 
England ;  in  our  own  land,  indeed,  the  assumption 
of  imperial  titles  by  Eadgar  and  ^thelred  looks 
like  a  purposed  answer  to  the  imperial  claims  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

Otto  and  his  successors.     But  even  apart  from  its  chap,  x. 
claims  over  realms  which  denied  its  sway,  the  Em-     The 
pire  stood  from  the  hour  of  this  revival  high  both  Godwine. 
in  strength  and  in  extent  above  all  other  European  1035I1053 
powers.     Lords  of  Germany  and  of  the  greater  part     — 
of  Italy,  of  the  subject  realms  of  Bohemia,  Moravia, 
and  Poland  to  the  east,  of  the  equally  subject  realms 
of  Lorraine  and  Burgundy  to  the  west,  wielding  a 
more  doubtful  supremacy  over  Denmark  and  Hun- 
gary, the  successors  of  Otto  saw  their  rule  owned 
from  the  Eider  to  the  Liris,  from  Bruges  to  Vienna, 
from  the  Vistula  to  the  Rhone. 

It  was  this  mighty  domain  which  passed  in  1039,  ^^.^ 
three  years  before  Eadward  s  accession  to  the  Eng-  movement. 
lish  throne,  into  the  hands  of  the  second  of  the 
Franconian  line,  the  Emperor  Henry  the  Third. 
None  of  its  rulers  had  shown  a  nobler  temper  or  a 
greater  capacity  for  action.  In  seven  years  Bohe- 
mia was  quieted,  Hungary  conquered,  and  public 
peace  established  throughout  Germany.  But  the 
projects  of  Henry  were  wider  than  those  of  a  merely 
German  king.  He  crossed  the  Alps  to  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  movement  for  the  reform  of  the 
Church.  A  new  religious  enthusiasm  was  awak- 
ening throughout  Europe,  an  enthusiasm  which 
showed  itself  in  the  reform  of  monasticism,  in  a 
passion  for  pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  in 
the  foundation  of  religious  houses.  We  have  seen 
how  energetically  this  movement  was  working  in 
Normandy ;  it  was  the  coldness,  if  not  the  antago- 
nism, that  the  house  of  Godwine  showed  to  it  which 
was  the  special  weakness  of  their  policy  in  England. 
Godwine  himself  founded   no   religious  house;  he 


and  the 
Papacy. 


.^5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  was  charged  by  his  enemies  with  plundering  many. 

The  His  son  Swein  outraged  the  religious  sentiment  of 
Sine!  the  day  by  his  abduction  of  an  abbess.  But  if  it 
Q3^Q53  was  repulsed  by  the  house  of  Godwine,  the  revival 

—  found  friends  elsewhere.  Leofric  of  Mercia  was  re- 
nowned for  his  piety  and  his  bounty  to  religious 
houses.  Eadward  himself  was  saintly  in  his  devo- 
tion. In  England,  however,  as  abroad,  the  first 
vigor  of  the  revival  spent  itself  on  the  crying  scan- 
dal of  the  day,  the  feudalization  of  the  Church  by 
grants  or  purchase  of  its  highest  offices  as  fiefs  of 
lord  or  king,  and  by  their  transmission,  like  lay  es- 
tates, from  father  to  son. 

The  It  was  against  this  abuse  that  Henry  specially 
directed  his  action.  In  the  theory  of  the  Empire 
a  spiritual  head  was  as  needful  for  Christendom  as 
a  secular  head ;  emperor  and  pope  were  alike  God's 
vicegerents  in  his  government  of  the  world.  But 
the  Papacy  was  now  on  the  verge  of  a  more  com- 
plete feudalization  than  the  meaner  prelacies  of  the 
Western  Church.  Three  claimants  now  disputed 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter ;  of  these,  two  had  been  raised 
to  it  by  the  Roman  barons,  one  by  bribery  of  the 
Roman  people.  Their  deposition,  the  elevation  of 
a  German  pope,  edicts  against  the  purchase  of  ec- 
clesiastical offices,  showed  Henry's  zeal  in  the  puri- 
fication of  the  Church.  It  was  shown  still  more 
grandly  when  the  bishop  whom  he  had  called  to  the 
Papacy  as  Leo  IX.  renounced,  at  a  v;arning  from  the 
deacon  Hildebrand,  the  papal  ornaments  to  which 
he  had  no  title  but  the  nomination  of  the  emperor, 
and  only  resumed  them  after  a  formal  election  by 
the  clergy  of  Rome.     Henry  owned  the  justness  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^gy 

the  principle,  and  Leo  became  his  coadjutor  in  the  chap,  x. 
settlement  of  Christendom.     From  the  reforms  of     The 
Henry  the  Third  dates  that  revival  of  the  Papacy  GoXine. 
which  was  soon  to  deal  a  fatal  blow  at  the  Em-io35lio63. 
pire  itself.    Hildebrand,  the  future  Gregory  the  Sev-     — 
enth,  was  in  Leo's  train  as  he  returned  over  the 
Alps,  and  continued  to  mould  the  policy  of  the  Pa- 
pacy in  accordance  with  his  own  high  conception  of 
the  commission  of  Christ's  Church  on  earth.     But 
for  the  moment  the  ecclesiastical  reforms   of  the 
emperor  were  interrupted  by  the  troubles  of  the 
Empire  itself.     Henry's  greatness  stirred   the  jeal- 
ousy of  his  feudatories ;  and  though  his  wonderful 
activity  held  the  bulk  of  his  realm  in  peace  he  was 
met  in  Lower  Lorraine,  the  Low  Countries  of  later 
history,  by  a  rebellion  under  its  duke. 

In  this  rising  Duke  Godfrey  was  backed  by  two  ^^oyma»- 
powerful  neighbors,  the  Count  of  Holland  and  the  Flanders. 
Count  of  Flanders.  It  was  probably  in  the  spring 
of  1049,  at  the  moment  when  Baldwin  of  Lille  an- 
nounced by  daring  outrages  his  defiance  of  the  em- 
peror, that  a  demand  for  his  daughter's  hand  reached 
him  from  the  court  of  Rouen.  In  itself  the  demand 
was  natural  enough.  William  had  been  pressed  by 
his  baronage  to  take  a  wife,  and  kinship  alone 
might  have  drawn  the  duke  to  take  her  from  the 
house  of  Flanders.  It  was  no  long  time  since  Bald- 
win the  Bearded,  the  present  Count  Baldwin's 
father,  had  married  in  his  old  age  a  daughter  of 
Richard  the  Good,  a  cousin  of  William  as  of  the 
English  Eadward,  and  her  presence  at  the  court  of 
Bruges  would  aid  in  the  promotion  of  further  alli- 
ances.    But  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  political  in- 

32 


.qS       the  conquest  of  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  terest  had  more  weight  with  William  than  the 
Th^  thought  of  kinship.  A  marriage  with  Matilda  of 
Godwine^  Flanders  would  strengthen  his  hold  on  France, 
1035T053.  whose  growing  jealousy  formed  one  of  his  greatest 
—  difficulties.  Matilda's  mother,  Adela,  was  a  sister 
of  King  Henry;  and  the  connection  between  the 
courts  of  Paris  and  Bruges  was  of  the  closest  kind. 
Even  in  a  war  with  France  the  friendship  of  Flan- 
ders would  cover  the  weakest  side  of  the  Norman 
frontier.  But  it  is  likely  enough  that  England  al- 
ready occupied  as  large  a  part  in  William  s  plans  as 
France.  We  can  hardly  doubt  from  his  visit  but 
two  years  later  that  dreams  of  an  English  crown 
were  already  stirring  within  him.  And  in  any  proj- 
ects upon  England  it  was  of  the  highest  import  to 
secure  the  friendship  of  Flanders. 
England  It  was  the  more  important  that  Baldwin's  friend- 
Fianders.  ship  sccmcd  already  to  have  been  won  by  the  great 
English  house  in  which  William  must  even  now 
have  discerned  the  main  obstacle  to  his  success.  In 
seeking^  the  alliance  of  the  Count  of  Flanders,  God- 
wine  was  only  following  the  traditional  policy  of  the 
English  kings.  A  common  dread  of  the  Northmen 
had  long  held  the  two  countries  in  close  political 
connection ;  and  the  marriage  of  a  former  Count 
Baldwin  with  ^Ifthryth,'  the  daughter  of  Alfred, 
was  part  of  a  system  of  alliances  by  which  Eadward 
the  Elder  and  ^thelstan  strove  to  bridle  Normandy 
in  its  earlier  days.  Even  when  that  dread  of  the 
Northmen  died  away,  a  friendly  intercourse  went 
on  between  the  two  countries.  It  w^as  at  Count 
Arnulf's  court  that  Dunstan  sought  refuge  in  his 

^  See  p.  175. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^gg 

exile;    and  one  of  the  archbishop's  biographies  is  chap.x. 
due  to  a  Flemish   scholar.     Commerce,  too,  linked     The 
England   with  "  Baldwin  s    land,"  as    Flanders   was  ood'^ne^ 
generally  styled.      Bruges  formed  the  great  niart  1^3^53 
for  the  countries   of  the   Lower   Rhine ;    and  the     — 
merchants  of  Bruges  w^ere  seen  commonly  enough 
in  the  streets  of  London.     Flemings,  indeed,  were 
among  the  strangers  whose  encouragement  was  laid 
as  a  fault  to  Eadgar's  charge.     In  the  later  days  of 
^thelred  the  political  relations   between  the  two 
countries  became  of  a  less  friendly  kind.     It  was 
from  a  Flemish  harbor  that  Cnut  steered  to  Eng- 
lish shores,  and  it  was  at  Bruges  that  Emma  and 
Harthacnut    planned    their    invasion    of    England. 
But  aid  to  Harthacnut  and  Emma  was  less  offen- 
sive to  Eadward  than  it  would  have  been  to  Harald 
Harefoot,  and  even  the  reception  of  some  Danish 
pirates  in  the  Scheldt,  with  English  booty  on  board, 
was  hardly  of  weight  enough  to  prevent  the  renewal 
of  the  old  English  friendship  during  the  Confessor  s 
reign. 

The  friendship  w^as  at  this  time  drawn  closer  by  ^/^^ 
the  relations  between  Baldwin  and  the  real  ruler  of  m//mm. 
England.  A  formal  alliance  by  which  Godwine  and 
the  count  were  bound  to  each  other  was  of  old 
standing;  and  it  had  been  sedulously  strengthened 
on  the  earl's  part  by  repeated  gifts.  The  terms  on 
which  the  two  houses  stood  had,  indeed,  been  shown 
only  a  year  before  by  the  reception  which  Swein 
found  at  Baldvv^in's  court.  To  break  the  connection 
between  the  house  of  Godwine  and  the  Flemish 
court,  at  any  rate  to  neutralize  its  force,  was  of  the 
first  importance,  therefore,  for  any  success  in  after- 


^Oo       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  attempts  upon  England.  The  march  of  a  Flemish 
Th^     army  on  Rouen,  the  appearance  of  a  Flemish  squad- 

Godwhie!  ron  off  the  Seine,  would  alike  be  fatal  to  any  passage 

1035^053  ^f  *^^  Channel  by  a  Norman  force.  The  friendship 
—  of  Baldwin,  on  the  other  hand,  would  complete  the 
schemes  which  William  was  already  devising  for  se- 
curing the  whole  range  of  the  coast  from  Brittany 
to  the  Scheldt.  Count  Ingelram  of  Ponthieu  was 
the  husband  of  the  duke's  sister.  Eustace  of  Bou- 
logne was  linked  to  him  by  his  marriage  with  King 
Eadward's  sister,  Godgifu  or  Goda,  who  had  been 
reared,  like  Eadward  himself,  at  the  Norman  court. 
With  the  hand  of  Matilda,  therefore,  the  whole  coast 
of  the  Channel  would  be  secured.  The  advantages 
of  the  match,  indeed,  were  to  be  far  greater  than  any 
which  William  could  now  have  counted  on;  it  was 
the  friendship  of  Flanders  which,  in  the  end,  alone 
made  the  Norman  Conquest  possible.  But  even 
now  it  was  too  marked  a  step  to  escape  the  watch- 
ful eye  of  such  a  statesman  as  Godwine;  and  we 
shall  hardly  do  justice  to  his  ability  if  w^e  fail  to 
trace  his  hand  in  the  sudden  and  unlooked-for  com- 
bination by  which  the  Norman  scheme  w^as,  for  a 
while,  rendered  impossible. 

^RhelLf  While  William  was  seeking  Matilda's  hand  at 
the  court  of  Bruges,  the  new  pope,  Leo  IX.,  and 
the  emperor,  Henry,  had  together  taken  in  hand 
their  work  of  reform.  Only  twice  before  had  the 
western  world  seen,  never  again  was  it  destined  to 
see.  Pope  and  Caesar  united  in  the  common  rule  of 
Christendom,  united  in  the  work  of  temporal  peace 
and  of  religious  reformation.  The  aim  of  the  coun- 
cil which  was  summoned  to  meet  them  at  Rheims 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  50I 

was  to  restore  at  once  the  tranquillity  of  the  Empire  chap,  x. 
and  the  discipline  of  the  Church.  The  first  was,  The 
indeed,  in  great  part  secured.  Leo  had  already  Godwine. 
launched  his  excommunication  at  the  rebel  princes,  1035I1063. 
and  though  Baldwin  of  Flanders  still  remained  de- 
fiant,  the  Lotharingian  duke  Godfrey  laid  down  his 
arms  and  submitted  to  penance  for  his  sin.  To 
bring  spiritual  peace  to  the  Church  needed  longer 
toil.  But  England  now  seemed  disposed  to  join  in 
the  task  with  pope  and  emperor.  Bishop  Duduc 
of  Wells,  with  two  abbots,  appeared  among  the 
crowd  of  German  and  Burgundian  bishops  who 
answered  Leo's  summons  to  Rheims.  The  envoy 
was  skilfully  chosen.  Duduc  was  himself  a  Ger- 
man, a  Saxon  or  Lotharingian  in  blood,  fitted,  there- 
fore, by  his  extraction  to  deal  with  a  German  pope 
and  a  German  emperor.  His  commission  simply 
bade  him  bring  back  word  to  the  king  what  was 
done  for  Christendom,  but  it  is  hard  to  watch  the 
acts  of  the  council  without  suspecting  that  behind 
this  spiritual  mission  lay  a  political  one. 

The  work  of  moral  reform  went  hand  in  hand  ^^-^/^^^^^'^^^ 
at  Rheims  with  that  of  ecclesiastical  reformation. 
Princes  as  well  as  bishops  found  themselves  sum- 
moned to  the  bar  of  Christendom.  But  it  is  remark- 
able that  in  the  front  rank  of  these  offenders  we  find 
the  four  rulers  whom  William's  policy  was  drawing 
together  along  the  Channel  coast,  and  that  in  each 
case  the  crime  laid  to  their  charge  was  the  same. 
Marriage  contracted  within  the  bounds  of  spiritual 
relationship  was  counted  by  the  Church  as  incest; 
and  so  wide  were  these  bounds,  so  numerous  the 
modes  in  which  this  relationship  could  be  contract- 


C02  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.  ed,  that  few  offences  were  more  difficult  to  evade. 
The      Incest  was  the  ground  on  w^hich  Eustace  of  Bou- 

Godwine!  logne  and  Ingelram  of  Ponthieu  w^ere  alike  excom- 

1035T053  niunicated ;  but  we  are  not  told  whether  their  Nor- 
—  man  marriages  were  the  ground  of  the  condemna- 
tion. The  projected  marriage  of  Matilda  was  the 
crime  which  brought  both  William  and  Baldwin 
within  the  censure  of  the  Church.  Her  mother, 
Adela,  had  been  betrothed  to  William's  uncle,  the 
third  Duke  Richard  of  Normandy,  before  her  mar- 
riage  with  Baldwin ;  and  such  a  betrothal  created  a 
spiritual  affinity  between  the  countess  and  the  ducal 
house  which  may  have  served  as  the  ground  for  the 
prohibition.  But,  whatever  was  the  obstacle,  the 
marriage  w^as  counted  incestuous,  and  William  and 
Baldwin  were  alike  forbidden  to  proceed  with  it  on 
pain  of  excommunication. 

Failure  of  How  far  thcsc  acts  of  the  council  spranor  from 
schemes.  Duduc  s  promptmg  it  IS  hard  to  say,  but  some  light 
is  thrown  on  the  part  which  England  was  playing 
by  the  events  which  followed  the  close  of  the  assem- 
bly. Its  prohibition  of  the  marriage  was,  in  any 
case,  a  heavy  blow  to  the  Norman  duke.  But  Will- 
iam showed  no  sign  of  submitting  to  the  prohibi- 
tion. Strict  Churchman  as  he  was,  we  shall  see 
him  clinging  stubbornly  to  this  project  for  years  to 
come,  and  marrying  Matilda  in  the  end  in  defiance 
of  the  excommunication.  Nor  did  the  Count  of 
Flanders  seem  more  likely  to  yield.  In  spite  of 
Leo's  thunders  and  the  withdrawal  of  Duke  God- 
frey, Baldwin  remained  in  arms.  The  emperor  w^as 
forced  to  march  against  him ;  but  Flanders  required 
a  fleet  as  well  as  an  army  for  its  reduction,  and  Henry 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^03 

called  on  England  for  naval  aid.     No  request  could  chap,  x. 
have   jarred  more    roughly  against  the   traditional     The 
English  relations  with  the  Flemish  counts,  nor  with  Godwine. 
the  previous  policy  of  Godwine  himself ;  but  the  aid  1035^053. 
which  Henry  needed  was  at  once  granted,  and  the     — 
emperor  no  sooner  marched  on   Baldwin's  frontier 
than  English  ships  gathered  under  the  king  himself 
at  Sandwich  for  a  cruise  off  the  coast  of  Flanders. 
Attacked  by  two  such  powers  at  once  even  Bald- 
win's heart  failed  him ;  and  the  count  bowed  with- 
out a  struggle  to  the  imperial  demands.     We  can 
hardly  doubt,  from  the  part  which  Henry  had  taken 
in  the  council  at  Rheims,  that  among  these  was  that 
of  submission  to  the  decree  which  prohibited  Matil- 
da's marriage  with  William.     It  is,  at  any  rate,  cer- 
tain that  so  long  as  Henry  lived  Baldwin  withheld 
his  daughter's  hand  from  the  Norman  duke. 

Whether  this  decisive  aid  of  Eno:land  had  been  Godwim's 

,  .  -.     ,  -15      •  .  alliance 

stipulated  as  the  price  of  the  councils  intervention  jvith 
between  the  duke  and  the  Flemish  count  it  is  im- 
possible now  to  tell.  But  the  result  of  both  served 
Godwine's  purpose  too  well  to  allow  of  a  belief  that 
he  was  strange  to  the  real  import  of  the  policy  he 
directed.  At  the  close  of  1049  the  Flemish  match 
seemed  to  be  at  an  end.  Baldwin,  however,  was  no 
sooner  severed  from  William,  than  Godwine  hastened 
to  renew  the  friendly  relations  which  his  policy  had 
for  the  moment  interrupted.  His  aim  was  precisely 
that  of  the  Norman  duke.  Like  William,  the  earl 
resolved  to  bind  Flanders  to  his  interests  by  a  mar- 
riaQ[e  tie.  But  where  the  duke  failed  Godwine  sue- 
ceeded.  How  Baldwin  was  won,  whether  the  match 
with  Godwine's  house  w^as  a  condition  of  the  w4th- 


Flanders. 


504 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


cHAP.x.  drawal  of  the  English  fleet,  we  do  not  know,  but  the 
The     reconciliation  was  a  rapid  one.     In  little  more  than 

GoXine^  a  year  after  the  close  of  the  war  with  Baldwin,  God- 

jQ3~Qg3  wine's  third  son,  Tostig,  was  wedded  to  Judith,  the 
—     sister  or  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Flanders. 

oiitiawry  ^q  triumph  could  have  been  more  complete  than 
this  diplomatic  triumph  of  Godwine  on  foreign 
ground.  He  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  power; 
the  King  of  England  was  his  son-in-law,  Swein,  the 
King  of  Denmark,  was  his  nephew,  and  the  Count 
of  Flanders  was  closely  linked  to  his  house.*  But  in 
^  the  very  moment  of  his  success  new  difficulties  met 
him  at  home.  While  Eadward  still  lay  at  Sand- 
wich the  exiled  Swein  returned  to  seek  pardon  and 
restoration  to  the  lands  he  had  lost.  Harold  and 
Beorn,  to  whom  these  lands  had  been  granted,  for  a 
time  withstood  his  demand;  but  at  a  subsequent 
conference  at  Pevensey  with  Godwine  and  his 
cousin,  Beorn  was  brought  to  consent,  and  he  rode 
with  Swein  to  serve  as  his  mediator  with  the  king. 
Again,  however,  the  brutal  nature  of  Godwine's  eld- 
est son  broke  out  in  crime.  Beorn  was  treacher- 
ously seized,  carried  on  shipboard,  and  murdered. 
The  outrage  roused  the  wrath  of  all.  Swein  was 
formally  branded  as  "  nithing,"  as  utterly  worthless, 
and  was  forsaken  by  the  bulk  of  his  own  followers. 
The  men  of  Hastings  chased  the  two  ships  which 
still  clung  to  him,  captured  them,  and  slew  their 
crews.  But  Swein  escaped  to  Baldwin's  land,  where 
the  war  which  Flanders  was  waging  with  England 
and  the  emperor  at  that  moment  secured  him  a 
refuge.  He  was  soon  to  return.  As  the  winter 
passed,  and  peace  between  Flanders  and   Endand 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       505 

was  again  restored,  Bishop   Ealdred  of  Worcester,  chai\x. 
who  had  been  raised  to  his  see  two  years  before  in     The 
the  very  height  of  Godwine's  power,  appeared  at  the  Godwine. 
court  of  Bruges.     Ealdred  was  an  adroit  negotiator,  1035I1053. 
and  he  may  possibly  have  been  commissioned  to     — 
bring  about  that  new  union  of  the  count  and  earl 
which  found  its  issue  soon  after  in  Tostig's  mar- 
riage.    He  served,  at  any  rate,  another  purpose  of 
Godwine's.     Early  in  1050  he  brought  back  Swein 
with  him  to  England,  and  made  his  peace  with  the 
king.     The  murderer  s  outlawry  was  reversed,  and 
he  was  restored  to  his  old  rule  over  the  shires  of  the 
west. 

Such  a  restoration  of  such  a  criminal  was  an  out-  Godwine 
rage  to  the  general  sense  of  justice,  which  could  primacy. 
hardly  fail  to  weaken  the  cause  of  Godwine.  But 
the  earl's  power  remained  unshaken ;  and  ere  the 
year  ended,  the  death  of  Archbishop  Eadsige  seemed 
about  to  raise  it  to  a  yet  higher  point.  The  vacancy 
of  an  English  see,  as  of  an  English  abbey,  was  at 
this  time  commonly  filled  by  the  direct  nomination 
of  the  king  in  full  Witenagemot ;  it  was  the  king 
who  "gave"  the  bishopric  by  formal  writ  and  seal, 
who  placed  the  bishop's  staff  in  his  hand,  who  some- 
times personally  enthroned  him  in  his  bishop's  seat. 
But  in  some  cases  the  royal  nomination  was  pre- 
ceded by  an  election  on  the  part  of  the  clergy  or 
monks,  with  a  petition  to  the  king  for  its  confirma- 
tion. On  the  death  of  Eadsige  the  latter  course 
was  followed.  The  Canterbury  monks  chose  ^Ifric, 
a  kinsman  of  Godwine,  for  the  vacant  see  ;  and  God- 
wine supported,  with  his  whole  power,  their  prayer 
for  his  acceptance  by   Eadward.      The    choice   of 


ro6  THE  CONQUEST   OF   ENGLAND. 

cHARx.  ^Ifric  was  the  last  step  in  the  steady  process  by 
The     which  the  earl  was  concentrating  all  power  in  the 

Godwine!  hands  of  his  house.     Already  master  of  the  State, 

1035^063  th^  primacy  of  his  kinsman  made  him  master  of  the 
—  Church.  The  efforts  of  Eadward  to  provide  a  check 
on  his  influence  by  the  elevation  of  Norman  bishops 
broke  idly  against  the  overwhelming  supremacy  of 
an  archbishop  of  Godwine's  blood.  Nor  was  this 
all.  The  constitutional  position  of  the  primate  was 
even  more  important  than  his  ecclesiastical  position. 
He  alone  could  lawfully  set  the  crown  on  the  head 
of  an  elected  king.  He  alone  had  the  right  of  re- 
ceiving from  the  people  their  assent  to  the  king's 
rule,  of  receiving  from  the  sovereign  his  oath  to 
govern  rightly.  The  choice  of  ^Ifric  pointed 
plainly  to  Godwine's  designs  on  the  crown. 

Robert  of  j£  gygn  a  shadow  of  kine^ship  were  to  remain  to 
him,  Eadward  was  forced  to  resist.  He  can  hardly 
have  needed  the  whispers  of  his  Norman  courtiers 
to  disclose  the  significance  of  i^lfric's  election,  or 
the  influence  of  Robert  of  Jumieges  to  estrange  him, 
as  Godwine's  friends  murmured  that  Robert  did  es- 
trange him,  from  the  earl.  But  once  resolved  on  re- 
sistance, the  king  acted  with  the  violence  of  a  weak 
man  driven  to  stand  at  bay.  The  choice  which  he 
made  was  yet  more  anti-national  than  Godwine's 
own.  If  the  primacy  with  its  spiritual  and  political 
powers  was  no  post  for  Godwine's  kinsman,  it  was 
still  less  a  post  for  a  Norman  stranger.  But  it  was 
Robert  of  Jumieges  whom  the  king  named  as  arch- 
bishop in  the  Lenten  Witenagemot  of  105 1.  The 
new  primate  soon  showed  that  his  elevation  was  but 
the  first  blow  in  a  strife  which  was  from  this  mo- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       507 

ment  assured.     Spearhafoc,  a  partisan  of  Godwine,  chap.x. 
had  been  raised  to  the  see  of  London  as  a  means     The 
of  counterbalancing  the  appointment  to  the  primacy.  ooXine. 
Robert,  however,  hastened  to  Rome  for  his  pallium,  1035^053. 
and  obtained  from  Pope  Leo,  probably  on  the  usu-     — 
al  plea  of  simony,  a  condemnation  of  Spearhafoc's 
choice.     On  the  ground  of  this  prohibition  he  re- 
fused on  his  return  to  consecrate  the  bishop,  although 
he  "  came  to  him  with  the  king's  writ  and  seal." 
Spearhafoc,  unhallowed  as  he  was,  defiantly  took  pos- 
session of  his  bishopric. 

As  August  wore  away  the  quarrel  grew  more  bit-  "^^^ 
ter.  Godwine  complained  of  the  primate's  intrigues  Bouhgue. 
against  him  ;  Robert  complained  of  the  earl's  tres- 
pass on  lands  belonging  to  his  see.  A  fresh  cause 
of  irritation  was  doubtless  added  by  a  visit  of  Eus- 
tace of  Boulogne  to  the  court  at  Gloucester.  His 
coming  was  natural  enough :  he  was  wedded  to  the 
king's  sister,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  were  endowed 
with  wide  estates  in  England.  But  it  possibly  had 
another  end.  The  marriage  of  Tostig  and  Judith 
had  just  proclaimed  to  the  world  Godwine's  triumph 
in  Flanders ;  and  Eustace,  a  near  neighbor  of  Count 
Baldwin,  a  friend  and  ally  of  the  Norman  duke,  was 
affected  above  all  by  this  new  turn  in  Flemish  poli- 
tics. But  whether  his  visit  w^as  a  result  of  this 
match  or  no,  the  sympathies  of  Count  Eustace  can 
hardly  fail  to  have  given  fresh  weight  to  the  press- 
ure which  Robert  was  bringing  to  bear  on  the  king 
ao^ainst  Godwine. 

That  the  Count  of  Boulogne  was  looked  upon  Outbreak 
with  hostility  by  Godwine's  party  we  see  from  the 
precaution  which  Eustace  took  of  arming  his  men 


co8       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.  as  he  approached  the  earl's  town  of  Dover  on  his  re- 
The  turn  at  the  opening  of  September.  His  fears  of  a 
Godwine!  Conflict  were  soon  realized.  One  of  his  soldiers, 
1035^053.  while  roughly  seeking  lodgings,  wounded  a  burgher 
—  who  refused  them  ;  the  townsmen  attacked  the  count ; 
and  after  the  fall  of  some  twenty  men  on  either  side 
Eustace  was  driven  from  Dover,  and  fled,  almost 
alone,  to  Eadward.  The  king  summoned  Godwine 
in  wrath  from  Tostig's  marriage  feast,  and  bade  him, 
as  Earl  of  Wessex,  avenge  the  wrong  done  to  his 
brother-in-law.  With  his  usual  skill,  Godwine  seized 
on  the  opportunity  which  the  demand  gave  him.  A 
contest  was  plainly  at  hand  between  Eadward  and 
the  earl ;  but  the  fight  at  Dover  enabled  him  at  once 
to  take  ground  not  as  an  enemy  of  the  king,  but  as 
an  enemy  of  the  foreigners  who  surrounded  the 
king.  He  refused  to  attack  his  own  people  on  a 
stranger's  behalf ;  and  with  his  sons,  Swein  and 
Harold,  summoned  the  men  of  their  three  earldoms 
to  follow  him  in  arms.  Fighting,  in  fact,  at  once 
broke  out  between  Swein's  men  and  the  men  of 
Earl  Ralf  in  Herefordshire.  For  the  moment  the 
bold  stroke  promised  to  be  successful.  Eadward 
lay  defenceless  in  the  midst  of  Swein's  earldom. 
The  followers  of  the  three  earls  immediately  gath- 
ered at  their  call,  a  few  miles  off  Gloucester,  in  a 
force  so  "  great  and  countless  "  as  to  show  what  care- 
ful preparation  the  house  of  Godwine  had  made  be- 
forehand for  the  blow.  From  his  camp  on  the  Cots- 
wolds  the  earl  demanded  the  surrender  into  his  hands 
of  Eustace  and  the  Normans  in  Ralf's  castle.  But 
quick  as  had  been  Godwine's  stroke,  others  were  as 
quick  as  he.     The  earls  of  Mercia  and  Northumber- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  509 

land  were  doubtless  on  their  way  to  the  usual  au-  chap,  x. 
tumnal  meeting  of  the  Witan ;  but  on  the  summons     The 
of  the  panic-struck  king  they  called  up  the  whole  GoSwine. 
strength   of  their  earldoms,  and   hurried  with  the^Qg^gg 
smaller  force  about  them  to  Gloucester. 

The  approach  of  Leofric  and  Siward,  with  the  men^^^^^^^^/ 
whom  Ralf  brought  up  from  Herefordshire,  changed  plans. 
the  whole  face  of  affairs.  The  surrender  of  Count 
Eustace  was  at  once  refused,  afid  as  the  Mercians 
and  Northumbrians  gathered  round  Eadward  they 
clamored  to  be  led  against  Godwine  and  his  sons. 
Dexterous  as  the  earl's  policy  had  been,  it  had  utter- 
ly broken  down.  His  aim  had  been  to  stand  before 
England  as  the  foe  of  strangers  and  not  of  the  king. 
But  the  sudden  rescue  wrought  by  Siward  and  Leo- 
fric forced  him,  "  loath  "  as  he  was,  to  stand  boldly 
out  in  arms  against  Eadward  himself ;  and  it  marks 
the  power  which  the  monarchy  had  now  gained  over 
the  national  sentiment,  in  great  measure  from  God- 
wine's  own  policy  and  action,  that  the  moment  this 
attitude  was  fairly  taken  the  earl's  strength  fell  from 
him.  But  with  the  sentiment  of  loyalty  was  rising 
also  the  consciousness  of  national  unity.  The  day 
had  passed  when  Mercian  or  Northumbrian  could 
shed  West-Saxon  blood  as  the  blood  of  strangers. 
The  wiser  folk  on  both  sides  deemed  it  "  unraed,"  or 
wisdom-lacking,  to  join  battle,  "  seeing  that  there  was 
most  that  noblest  was  in  England  in  the  two  hosts." 

Not  less  striking  than  the  force  of  either  senti-^'-^/'i?'^'^- 
ment  was  the  new  consciousness  of  national  law.  The 
great  dispute  was  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  Wite- 
nagemot  which  was  summoned  on  the  twenty-first  of 
September,  so  fast  had  events  marched,  at  London. 


rjo       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  The  two  hosts  were  parted  by  the  river;  Godwine 
The  and  his  sons  lay  at  South wark;  Eadward  and  the 
Godwine!  Mercian  and  Northumbrian  earls  encamped  on  the 
1035T053.  northern  shore.  The  Witan  no  sooner  met  than 
—  they  gave  an  earnest  of  their  coming  judgment  by 
the  outlawry  of  Swein.  The  reversal  of  Godwine's 
worst  deed  showed  what  had  most  shaken  his  power 
over  Englishmen  ;  but  Godwine  still  clung  to  his 
son.  Outlaw  as  he  now  was,  he  kept  Swein  beside 
him.  The  earl  trusted  to  the  political  skill  which 
had  rescued  him  from  so  many  dangers,  and  Bishop 
Stigand  of  Winchester,  one  of  his  stoutest  partisans, 
negotiated  busily  with  the  king.  But  while  Stigand 
crossed  and  recrossed  the  river,  Godwine's  host 
melted  away ;  and  a  final  summons  to  appear  before 
the  Witan  drove  him  from  Southwark.  A  sentence 
of  outlawry  on  the  part  of  the  Witan  and  the  host 
followed  him  in  his  flight  over  sea. 
lis  results,  Tj^e  triumph  of  the  king  and  of  the  primate  was 
complete.  Godwine  with  three  of  his  sons — Swein, 
Tostig,  and  Gyrth — made  their  way  to  Baldwin's 
court.  Two  others,  Harold  and  Leofwine,  struck 
westward  to  Bristol  and  sailed  thence  to  Dublin, 
where  a  native  king,  Dermot,  was  now  lord  alike  of 
Irish  and  Danes.  It  is  plain  that  the  policy  of  the 
house  of  Godwine,  closely  linked  as  it  was  with  the 
Northmen  through  Gytha  and  her  kindred,  had  se- 
cured a  hold  on  these  western  seas  by  an  alliance 
with  the  Danish  Ostmen,  as  it  secured  a  hold  on  the 
eastern  channel  through  its  alliance  with  Baldwin. 
The  orders  given  to  Bishop  Ealdred  of  Worcester, 
to  seize  Harold  as  he  fled,  mark  the  importance 
which  the  new  government  attached  to  this  danger 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       en 

in  the  West;  but  his  pursuers  "might  not  or  would  chap.x. 
not "  overtake  him.  The  cautious  phrase  of  the  The 
chronicler  shows  that,  if  Swein's  inlawing  and  God-  JoT^^ne! 
wine's  daring  stroke  for  supremacy  in  the  realm  had^Qg^^gg 
brought  about  a  national  resistance,  there  was  no  — 
bitter  hostility  against  his  house.  The  earl's  flight, 
indeed,  seems  lo  have  been  unexpected ;  it  is  likely 
that  many  in  the  host  at  Westminster  meant  simply 
to  back  the  king  in  his  appeal  against  Godwine's 
last  demands ;  and  the  sudden  disappearance  of  the 
great  minister  who  had  so  long  stood  at  the  head 
of  English  affairs  struck  a  panic  into  men's  hearts. 
Murmurs  passed  from  lip  to  lip  that  the  land  was 
lost  now  the  land's  father  w^as  gone.  We  see  the 
power  of  this  sentiment  in  the  moderation  of  the 
acts  which  followed  Eadward's  triumph.  Godwine's 
daughter  —  indeed,  the  king's  wife  —  Eadgyth,  was 
put  away  and  sent  to  a  monastery.  The  earldom  of 
Swein  was  broken  up,  and  while  part  of  it  fell  to 
the  king's  nephew,  Ralf,  a  part  of  it,  along  with  the 
western  portion  of  Wessex,  was  placed  under  the 
rule  of  another  kinsman  of  Eadward's,  Odda.  The 
East-Anglian  earldom  of  Harold  was  given  to  Leo- 
fric's  son,  y^lfgar.  Spearhafoc  was  driven  from  the 
see  he  claimed,  and  one  of  the  king's  Norman  chap- 
lains, William,  was  raised  to  the  bishopric  of  London. 
But  we  hear  of  no  further  reactionary  measures ;  nor 
is  there  any  sign  that,  powerful  as  he  now  was,  the 
Norman  primate  used  his  power  to  make  England 
Norman.  Neither  Siward  nor  Leofric,  indeed,  were 
men  to  suffer  their  success  to  be  turned  to  merely 
Norman  uses ;  and  his  conduct  in  this  hour  of  inde- 
pendence shows  that  Eadward  had  till  now  favored 


CJ2       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  the  Norman  group  around  him  simply  as  a  counter- 
The     poise  to  the  oppression  of  Godwine. 

Godwine!       But  in  one  breast  the  fall  of  the  house  of  Godwine 

1035^063  ^^^^  ^^^^  raised  hopes  which,  baffled  as  they  were 
-—  to  be  again  and  again,  were  never  thenceforth  to 
JJ/T  die.     In  the  triumph  of  the  earl's  policy  in  Flanders, 

£u^/and.  ^'ui^^  Qf  Normandy  had  suffered  the  great  defeat 
of  his  life.  The  marriage  he  had  striven  to  bring 
about  was  denied  him,  while  the  marriage  with 
Tostig  bound  Baldwin  more  firmly  than  ever  to 
Godwine's  house.  But  the  fall  of  the  earl  opened 
chances  of  success  in  the  aims  which,  we  can  hardly 
doubt,  were  now  growing  clearer  before  him.  In 
the  following  Easter-tide,  1051,  "came  Earl  WilHam 
from  beyond  sea  with  great  following  of  Frenchmen  ; 
and  the  king  welcomed  him  and  so  many  of  his  fel- 
lows as  seemed  him  good,  and  let  him  go  again." 
There  is  something  startling  in  the  simple  words 
which  record  the  first  landing  of  William  on  Eng- 
lish shores.  Of  the  import  of  his  coming  we  are 
told  nothing  by  the  English  chronicler.  But  the 
Norman  knights  of  the  duke's  train  brought  back 
tales  to  their  own  land  of  a  fresh  promise  made  to 
William  by  his  royal  kinsman  that  he  would  be- 
queath him  his  crown ;  and,  true  it  is,  the  tale  deep- 
ened the  conviction  of  every  Norman  that  England 
was  soon  to  be  his  own.' 

But  Godwine  was  watching  the  turn  of  English 

^  Note  the  growth  of  the  Norman  convention  from  its  beginning 
(i)  with  Eadward's  accession  and  the  rumored  promise  of  succes- 
sion ;  (2)  its  progress  with  Primate  Robert's  visit  to  Rouen  and 
promise ;  (3)  and  with  William's  visit  to  Eadward  and  promise. 
The  very  number  of  the  promises  throws  grave  doubt  on  the  truth 
of  any,  but  it  shows  the  growing  belief  in  the  Norman  pretensions. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       rj^ 

feeling  with  other  eyes  than  those  of  William.    News  chap.x. 
of  the  popular  panic  at  his  flight  must  soon  have     The 
reached  him  over  sea;  nor  can  we  doubt  that  the  GoSwine! 
great  treasure  which  he  carried  to  Flanders  was  lav-^Qg^ggg 
ished  to  support  the  sympathy  felt  for  him  in  his  ex-     — 
ile,  and  to  spur  Baldwin  to  the  efforts  which  we  find  piaus  of 
the  count  making  to  induce  Eadward  to  receive  him 
again.     But  for  months  all  was  in  vain.     Winter 
and  spring  wore  away,  and  still  the  king  was  stub- 
born in   his  refusal  of  pardon.     At  last  Godwine 
girded  himself  to  win  his  return  by  force.     His  first 
step  was  to  free  himself  from  the  miserable  son  who 
had  cost  him  so  much.     Brutal  as  Swein  was,  there 
is  something  pitiful  in  the  tenacious  affection  with 
which  Godwine  had  clung  to  him  in  spite  of  his 
crimes ;  but  the  earl  saw  at  last  that  whatever  wel- 
come England  might  have  for  himself,  it  had  no  wel- 
come for  Swein.     And  his  departure  on  a  pilgrim- 
age, in  which  he  found  his  grave,  removed  the  one 
great  obstacle  to  Godwine's  reconciliation  with  his 
country.     Already  friends  were  stealing  over  sea  to 
Bruges,  "  happy  to  be   exiles  in  his  exile," '  while 
messages  came  from  other  friends  who  remained 
but  called  for  his  return,  and  pledged  themselves  to 
live   and  die  with  him."      Through  the  spring  of 
1052,  Godwine  was  busy  equipping  a  fleet  in  the 
Yser,  while  Harold  gathered  ships  at  Dublin,  and 

^  Vita  Edw.  (ed.  Luard),  p.  404. 

^  "  And  during  the  time  that  he  was  here  in  the  land,  he  enticed 
to  him  all  the  men  of  Kent,  and  all  the  butsecarls  from  Hastings 
and  everywhere  there  by  the  sea-coast,  and  all  the  east  end,  and  Sus- 
sex, and  Surrey,  and  much  else  in  addition  thereto.  Then  all  de- 
clared that  they  would  live  and  die  with  him." — Eng.  Chron.  (Peter- 
borough), a.  1052. 

33 


cj.       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  when  midsummer  came  all  was  ready.  Eadvvard 
Th^     was  still  resolute  against  the  earl ;  his  own  prayers 

GodwLe^  and  the  embassies  both  of  Baldwin  and  the  French 

1035T053.  ^^^g'  whose  interposition  again  throws  light  on  the 
—  wide  reach  of  Godwine's  political  connections,  alike 
failed  to  move  him  ;  and  a  fleet  and  land  force  was 
gathered  at  Sandwich  to  meet  his  coming. 

Return  of  f  hc  carl  had  already  started,  but  his  first  attempt 
ended  in  utter  failure,  for  he  was  driven  back  to 
Bruges  by  a  storm,  and  for  a  month  all  seemed  at 
an  end.  But  the  failure  had  given  a  false  security 
to  Eadward.  At  the  beginning  of  September  the 
king's  fleet  withdrew  to  London  to  refit,  and  at  the 
moment  when  the  coast  lay  open,  Eadward  learned 
that  Harold  had  left  Dublin  to  join  his  father.  The 
young  earl  turned  into  the  Bristol  Channel  to  make 
a  descent  on  Porlock,  and  while  the  brutal  ravages 
of  his  Danish  shipmen  woke  the  king's  dread  of  an 
attack  from  the  West,  Harold's  own  ships  rounded 
the  Land's-End  and  entered  the  Channel.  Godwine 
and  his  son  met  off  the  Isle  of  Wight,  sailed  east- 
ward along  the  coast,  and  entered  the  Thames.  The 
country  rose  as  they  advanced.  Vessels  put  off 
from  every  little  port  they  touched,  manned  by  sea- 
men who  vowed  to  live  and  die  with  Godwine  ;  and 
when  the  earl's  fleet  moored  before  London  it  far 
outnumbered  the  fifty  vessels  of  the  king.  Ead- 
ward, however,  was  hardly  less  active  and  resolute 
than  his  foes,  and  a  large  force  lay  marshalled  along 
the  northern  bank  of  the  Thames.  But  Godwine 
was  too  consummate  a  statesman  to  derive  success 
from  mere  force  of  arms.  He  stilled  the  wild  out- 
cry for  battle  which  burst  from  his  men,  as  the  king 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


515 


delayed  to  give  answer  to  the  prayer  of  the  earl  for  chap.x. 
restoration  to   land   and   goods.     Bloodshed  would     The 
only  part  him  irretrievably  from  the  men  with  w^hom  Godwine. 
he  fought ;    it  would  part  him  yet  more  irretriev-  1035I1053. 
ably  from  the  king.     He  anticipated  the  constitu- 
tional  distinctions  of  later  times  in  representing  his 
enterprise  as  simply  directed  against  evil  counsellors. 
He  protested  his  loyalty  to  the  sovereign  who  had 
humbled  and  outlawed  him,  and  who  had  outraged 
his  honor   in    driving  his  daughter  from  his  bed. 
"  He  would  rather  die,"  he  said,  "  than  suffer  aught 
to  be  done  against  his  lord  the  king." 

He  knew,  indeed,  that  a  combat  was  needless.  ^'^ . 
London  was  on  his  side.  Negotiations  had  been 
going  on  long  before  his  coming  with  its  burghers ; 
and  now  that  his  fleet  appeared  before  it  the  Lon- 
doners declared  for  the  earl.  The  blow  was  decisive. 
Eadward's  own  soldiers  swore  that  they  would  not 
fight  with  men  of  their  own  kin,  that  they  would 
not  have  the  land  given  over  to  "  outlandish  men," 
to  perish  through  the  strife  of  its  own  children.  But 
Eadward  s  counsellors  had  not  waited  for  this  mutiny 
of  the  host.  The  Norman  nobles  at  once  rode  off 
westward  to  Earl  Ralf's  country.  The  Norman 
primate,  with  the  Norman  bishop  of  Dorchester, 
mounted  and  rode  through  London  to  the  sea,  their 
train  cutting  their  way  with  difficulty  through  a 
crowd  of  young  burghers,  who  would  have  held  or 
slain  them.  Deserted  and  alone  in  the  great  Wit- 
enagemot  which  met  on  the  morrow,  the  king  was 
forced  to  accept  Godwine's  purgation  from  the 
charges  brought  against  him,  and  to  restore  him 
and  his  house  to  all  they  had  lost.     His  sons  re- 


ci5       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  gained  their  earldoms;  his  daughter  was  brought 
The     back  to  the  king's  house.      "And  there  outlawed 

GoXine!  they  all   Frenchmen   that   aforetime   made  unlaw, 
1035T053  deemed  ill-doom,  and  red  unrede  in  the  land." 

—  When  the  hosts  which  had  gathered    on  either 

hts      side  the  Thames  streamed  back  to  their  homes,  the 

Posttion.  |-j.-yj^pj^  q£  Qodwine  seemed  complete.     The  king 

had  been  forced  to  give  him  the  kiss  of  peace.  His 
Norman  rivals  were  in  flight  over  sea.  His  old 
possessions  were  restored.  The  influence  which 
had  rested  before  on  his  own  supreme  ability,  on 
long  experience  and  possession  of  authority,  on  the 
gradual  accumulation  of  lands  and  honors,  on  the 
annexation  of  province  after  province  by  his  house, 
rested  now  on  the  basis  of  a  national  acceptance,  of 
a  recall  and  a  restoration  which  the  solemn  decision 
of  the  Witenagemot  approved  as  national  acts.  But 
the  earl's  keen  eye  could  hardly  fail  to  see  that  the 
revolution  of  105 1  had  given  a  mighty  shock  to  his 
power;  even  his  restoration,  triumphant  as  it  was, 
failed  to  give  back  to  his  house  its  old  supremacy. 
If  Eadward  had  been  beaten  in  his  effort  to  ruin 
Godwine,  he  had  shown  what  strength  remained  to 
the  crown.  If  the  two  rival  earls  preferred  God- 
wine  to  a  Norman  rule,  they  were  far  from  purpos- 
ing to  sink  back  into  their  old  inferiority.  The  set- 
tlement which  followed  the  earl's  return  throws 
light  on  the  long  negotiations  which  Bishop  Sti- 
gand  conducted  with  the  Witan  before  the  vote  of 
Godwine's  outlawry  was  recalled,  and  leaves  little 
doubt  that  the  fresh  arrangement  was  one  of  mutual 
concession. 

The  dignity  of  the  crown  was  jealously  preserved. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  517 

In  the  very  hour  of  his  triumph  Godwine  strove  to  chap,  x. 
soften  as  far  as  he  might  Eadward's  humiliation.     The 
At  the  first  sight  of  the  king  he  flung  down  his  arms  Godwine. 
and  threw  himself  at  Eadward's  feet  praying  for  the  1035I1053. 
king's  peace.     It  was  only  when  Eadward  yielded  q^-,^^ 
to  his  prayer  and  the  prayer  of  the  Witan  that  the     o^id 
earl  took  back  his  arms  again  from  the  king's  hand 
and  accompanied  him  into  the  palace.     Even  the 
change  of  the  king's  advisers  remained  a  partial 
one.     If  Eadward  was  forced  to  abandon  his  Nor- 
man archbishop  and  the  Norman  advisers  of  God- 
wine's  exile,  a  Norman  court  was  still  left  to  him. 
He  remained  surrounded  by  Norman  stallers  and 
chaplains,  his  writs  were  drawn  by  a  Norman  chan- 
cellor.    Though  the  two  kinsmen  of  the  king  had 
played  a  foremost  part  in  the  earl's  overthrow,  they 
were  left  uninjured.     French  as  he  was,  Ralf  re- 
tained his  earldom  of  the  Magesaetas.     Odda,  if  he 
lost  the  earldom  built  up  for  him  out  of  the  western 
shires  of  Wessex,  seems  to  have  been  compensated 
by  the  creation  of  an  earldom  of  the  Hwiccas  out  of 
the  shires  of  Gloucester  and  Worcester. 

The  same  signs  of  compromise  appeared  in  the  Godwine 
new  relations  of  Godwine  with  the  rival  earls.  The  Earis. 
house  of  Leofric  had  profited  most  by  his  fall. 
Whatever  had  been  the  steps  of  its  growth,  the 
Mercian  earldom  which  had  once  been  reduced  to 
little  more  than  three  shires — Staffordshire,  Cheshire, 
and  Shropshire — now  reached  again  eastward  over 
Lincoln  and  stretched  westward  to  Oxford  and  the 
Thames;  and  as  if  to  build  up  again  the  old  realm 
of  Mid-Britain,  Leofric's  son  ^Ifgar  had  received  at 
Eadward's  hand  Harold's  earldom  of  East  Anglia. 


cjg  THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 

cHAP.x.  Siward,  master  of  Northumbria  from  the  Tweed  to 
The     the  Trent,  for  Nottinghamshire  now  passed  into  the 
Sine!  Northumbrian  earldom,  was  rewarded  for  his  share 
1035^053.  in  Godwine's  overthrow  by  a  part  of  the  counties 
—     of    Northampton    and    Huntingdon,  a   gift    which 
served  the  poHtical  purpose  of  providing  a  barrier 
between  the  possessions   of   Leofric  and  his   son. 
Such  a  division  of  England  raised  Leofric  and  Si- 
ward  to  a  new  equality  with  Godwine ;  but  his  sub- 
mission to  it  was  probably  a  part  of  the  terms  of  his 
recall.     Wessex   returned   to    Godwine   as  of  old; 
East  Anglia  was  also  restored;    but  Leofric  and 
Siward  retained  the  possessions  they  had  won. 
Godwiue       In  the  settlement  of  Church  matters  there  was 

nna  the  .    .  ,  .  r^  i       r  t  i     • 

Church,  a  like  spirit  of  compromise.  Spearhafoc,  the  claim- 
ant whom  Godwine  had  backed  in  his  occupation  of 
the  see  of  London,  disappeared;  and  the  Norman 
bishop,  William,  returned,  as  soon  as  the  storm  was 
over,  to  his  see.  We  hear  nothing  of  ^Ifric,  the 
kinsman  whom  the  earl  had  striven  to  raise  to  the 
primacy;  but  the  question  of  the  appointment  to 
the  see  of  Canterbury  was  too  important  a  one  for 
Godwine  to  yield.  In  the  tumult  which  broke  out 
when  Eadward  was  forced  to  receive  the  earl  back 
again,  Archbishop  Robert  of  Canterbury  fled  from 
London  and  crossed  the  Channel.  His  life,  indeed, 
was  in  danger;  his  knights  had  been  forced  to  cut 
their  way  out  of  London ;  and  a  formal  outlawry  in 
the  Witenagemot,  on  the  ground  that  he  and  his 
Frenchmen  had  been  foremost  in  making  strife  be- 
tween Godwine  and  the  king,  followed  him  over  sea. 
But  Godwine  was  far  from  resting  content  with 
Robert's  flight.     The  elevation  of  the  Norman  to 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       gig 

the  primacy  had  been  the  crowning  defeat  of  that  chap,  x. 
policy  by  which  he  was  concentrating  all  power  in  The 
State  or  Church  in  the  hands  of  his  house.  And  Godwine. 
now  that  his  power  had  returned,  he  fell  back  on  his  1035^053. 
older  plan.  There  had  been  recent  instances  of  the  — 
deprivation  of  bishops  by  a  sentence  of  the  Witan : 
and  though  we  have  no  record  of  such  a  step,  we 
may  gather  that  Robert  was  himself  deprived  of  his 
see.  It  was  given  to  Bishop  Stigand  of  Winches- 
ter, whose  action  in  the  late  contest  marked  him  as 
an  ardent  partisan  of  the  house  of  Godwine.  Rob- 
ert at  once  hastened  to  Rome  to  appeal  against  the 
intrusion  of  Stigand  into  his  see.  It  was  plain  that 
the  strife  between  the  rival  primates  must  widen 
into  a  strife  between  England  and  the  Papacy.  No 
canonical  power  could  be  alleged  for  Robert's  re- 
moval :  and  to  churchmen  generally  the  elevation  of 
Stigand  could  seem  nothing  but  a  defiance  of  all 
ecclesiastical  law.  In  Normandy  sympathy  for  the 
exiled  archbishop  was  naturally  even  keener.  The 
memory  of  the  slaughter  of  Normans  by  English- 
men at  the  seizure  of  ^^Ifred  was  quickened  by 
tales  of  the  slaughter  of  Normans  on  Godwine's  re- 
turn. The  driving-out  of  the  Norman  prelates,  the 
outlawry  of  the  Norman  courtiers,  were  taken  as  out- 
rages to  the  Norman  name,  and  the  elevation  of  Sti- 
gand remained  as  the  most  galling  sign  of  God- 
wine's  triumph. 

This  triumph,  however,  was  the  last  which  God-  character 
wine  was  to  win.     His  long  administration  was  fast  Godwins 
drawing  to  its  close,  and  the  sickness  which  was 
soon  to  end  his  life  seems  to  have  fallen  on  him  im- 
mediately after   his  restoration.     But  alike  in  his 


C20       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

cHARx.  overthrow  arLd  his  success  he  had  shown  the  quali- 
The  ties  which  had  so  long  placed  him  at  the  head  of 
GoXine^  the  State.  It  is  in  the  transitional  -moments  of  a 
1035T053  nation's  history  that  it  needs  the  cool  prudence,  the 
—  sensitive  selfishness,  the  quick  perception  of  what  is 
possible,  which  distinguished  the  adroit  politician 
whom  the  death  of  Cnut  had  left  supreme  in  Eng- 
land. Living  in  a  time  of  transition,  he  was  himself 
a  fit  representative  of  his  time ;  his  birth  disputed, 
his  connections  Danish,  his  policy  English,  a  skilled 
warrior,  but  statesman  rather  than  warrior,  and  ad- 
ministrator rather  than  conqueror.  Beginning  as  a 
royal  favorite,  he  died  the  "  land-father  "  of  the  Eng- 
lish people ;  from  the  court  dependant  he  passed  in- 
sensibly into  the  patient  statesman;  on  the  one  side 
he  appeared  a  grasping  noble,  on  the  other  a  wise 
ruler.  The  first  great  lay  statesman  of  English  his- 
tory, he  owed  his  elevation  neither  to  hereditary 
rank  nor  to  ecclesiastical  position,  but  to  sheer 
ability;  the  first  minister  who  overawed  the  crown, 
his  pliability,  his  good  temper,  his  quick  insight, 
his  caution,  and  his  patience  showed  that  he  pos- 
sessed the  qualities  of  the  adroit  courtier.  Shrewd, 
eloquent,  an  active  administrator,  Godwine  united 
vigilance,  industry,  and  caution  with  a  singular  dex- 
terity in  the  management  of  men.  In  the  range 
of  politics,  indeed,  he  was  unfettered  by  scruples. 
His  deadness  to  the  religious  sentiment  of  his  day 
was  shown  by  the  way  in  which  he  held  aloof  from 
the  ecclesiastical  and  monastic  revival  of  the  time, 
and  by  his  support  of  Stigand,  unworthy  as  he  was, 
from  political  motives.  His  indifference  to  the 
moral  judgments  of  the  men  about  him  found  ex- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       52 1 

pression  in  whatever  share  he  may  have  had  in  the  chap.x. 
murder  of  Alfred,  and  in  his  steady  adherence  to  The 
the  son  whose  crimes  had  openly  outraged  public  Godwine. 
feeling.  His  far-reaching  ambition  and  keen  sel- ^os^Iioss. 
fishness  were  seen  in  the  aggrandizement  of  his 
house,  and  in  the  vast  wealth  at  his  command,  as 
well  as  in  his  dexterous  use  of  it.  But  in  spite  of 
this  absence  of  moral  sympathy,  his  fertility  of  con- 
ception, the  range  of  his  designs,  the  quietness  of  his 
strokes,  his  dogged  perseverance,  and  his  coolness 
and  self-command  in  success,  added  to  his  long  ad- 
ministrative experience,  left  him  without  a  rival  in 
the  conduct  of  government.  His  policy  both  abroad 
and  at  home  marked  the  daring  and  originality  of 
his  genius.  In  foreign  affairs  he  was  the  first 
among  English  statesmen  whose  diplomacy  and  in- 
ternational policy  had  a  European  breadth,  and  con- 
cerned itself  alike  with  Scandinavia,  the  Empire, 
the  Papacy,  France,  Flanders,  and  the  Irish  Ostmen. 
At  home  his  government  was  one  of  peace,  for  war- 
rior as  he  had  been  in  his  youth,  he  was  absolutely 
without  military  ambition,  and  sought  only  political 
success.  It  was  nevertheless  in  this  field  of  home 
politics  that  the  transitional  character  of  his  genius 
most  truly  asserted  itself.  Holding  down  feudalism, 
yet  himself  aiming  at  a  great  feudal  revolution, 
building  up  in  the  council-chamber  the  power  of  the 
crown,  yet  himself  turning  the  king  into  a  puppet, 
he  was  the  creator  of  a  wholly  new  policy.  He  was 
the  first  to  develop  in  the  people  at  large  a  common 
interest  in  the  English  nation,  an  interest  stronger 
even  than  the  instinct  of  allegiance  to  the  house  of 
Cerdic;  and  the  new-"  loyalty  "  which  was  thus  his 


522 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


cHAP.x.  creation  strengthened  the  authority  of  the  crown, 

The     even  while  it  superseded  the  king.     The  true  w^ork 

?cSwine^  of  Godwine  lay  in  the  building-up  of  the  English 

1035^53.  peopl^j  the  awakening  of  a  new  loathing  of  foreign- 

—     ers  and  of  a  new  sense  of  kinship,  and  the  gathering 

of  the  nation  into  that  brotherhood  which  looked  to 

him  as  the  "  land-father." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^23 

CHAP.  X. 

The 
House  of 
Godwine. 

1035-1053. 

( The  following  notes  on  the  Growth   of  the  Royal  Administratioti       ~~ 
have  been  drawn  up  from  some  fragmentary  papers,  very  — 

rough  and  imperfect,  and  wholly  unrevised.) 

In  the  history  of  the  royal  administration  three  stages  are  dis- 
tinctly marked,  each  of  which  indicates  a  fresh  step  in  the  progress 
of  the  kingly  rule.  In  the  time  of  Alfred,  the  great  officers  of  the 
court  were  the  four  heads  of  the  royal  household — the  hordere,  the 
staller,  the  dish-thegn,  and  the  cup-thegn.  Under  ^thelred  the 
appointment  of  the  high-reeve  shows  the  first  effort  of  the  crown 
to  create  a  minister  of  state.  Finally,  in  the  reign  of  Cnut  we  may 
trace  the  beginnings  of  that  administrative  body  which  was  to  be- 
come so  important  under  the  Confessor,  the  clerks  of  the  chapel, 
or  the  "  king's  chaplains." 

The  four  officers  of  the  early  West-Saxon  court  are  at  least  as  old 
as  Alfred,  and,  whether  borrowed  or  not  in  their  actual  form  from 
the  Frankish  court,  sprang  naturally  from  the  needs  of  the  king's 
household  for  its  inner  regulation  and  finance,  for  its  movements 
through  the  country,  and  for  its  commissariat.  The  hordere  was 
the  officer  of  the  court  in  its  stationary  aspect,  as  the  staller  or  bon- 
stable  was  of  the  court  on  progress ;  while  the  hardly  less  important 
functions  of  the  commissariat  of  this  moving  army  were  shared  be- 
tween the  steward  and  the  butler. 

But  of  the  four  officers  one  only  retained  under  the  later  West- 
Saxon  monarchy  any  real  power.  The  dish-thegn  and  cup-thegn 
lost  importance  as  the  court  became  stationary  and  no  longer  main- 
tained a  vast  body  of  royal  followers.  The  staller  retained  only  the 
functions  of  leading  in  war  as  the  feudal  constable,  which  in  turn 
passed  away  with  later  changes  in  the  military  system.  The  hor- 
dere alone  held  a  position  of  growing  importance. 

The  bur-thegn,  camerarius  cubicularius ;  the  hraegel-thegn,  or 
keeper  of  the  wardrobe ;  the  dispensator,  thesaurarius,  hordere,  are 
all  grouped  by  Kemble  (Sax.  in  Eng.  ii.  106)  as  names  for  the  same 
great  officer.  The  first  instances  given  by  him  are  ^Ifric  thesau- 
rarius, under  Alfred,  ^thelsige  camerarius,  under  Eadgar,  and  Le- 
ofric  hraegal-thegn,  under  ^thelred.  No  doubt  the  "  hoard  "  con- 
tained not  only  money  and  coin,  but  the  costly  ornaments  and  robes 
of  the  crown.  Of  ail  the  officers  of  the  court  he  was  far  the  most 
important,  (i)  as  head  of  the  whole  royal  service;  (2)  as  exercising 


r2A  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.   control  over  the  royal  palace  or  household,  wherever  it  might  be, 

—  and  charged  with  care,  "  de  honestate  palatii  seu  specialiter  orna- 
H  ^se  of  ^^^^^  regali ;  (3)  as  receiver  of  royal  dues  for  the  crown  lands,  and 
Godwine.  head  of  the  royal  gerefan  ("we  may  presume  that  he  had  the  gen- 

—  eral  management  of  the  royal  property,  as  well  as  the  immediate 
1035-1053.  j-egulation  of  the  household.     In  this  capacity  he  may  have  been  the 

Notes,     recognized  chief  of  the  cyninges  tungerefan,  or  king's  bailiffs,  on  the 

—  several  estates ;  for  we  find  no  traces  of  any  districtual  or  missatic 
authority  to  whom  these  officers  could  account"  —  Ibid.);  (4)  as 
" dispensator "  of  the  crown;  and  (5)  through  this,  and  in  his 
charge  "  de  donis  annuis  militum  "  as  head  of  the  household  troops  ; 
and  (6)  of  the  budding  diplomatic  service,  through  his  care,  "de 
donis  diversarum  legationum. — Hincmar  22,  ap.  Kemble,  Sax.  in  Eng. 
ii.  106.  If  under  the  changing  conditions  of  the  West-Saxon  mon- 
archy the  importance  of  the  hordere  in  some  of  these  offices  de- 
clined, if  his  control  over  the  household  became  less  important, 
and  his  headship  of  the  royal  troops  passed  into  other  hands,  and 
his  charge  of  the  royal  demesnes  practically  ended  with  the  com- 
mutation into  money-rents  of  the  dues  derived  from  them,  he  found 
his  importance  as  treasurer  growing  at  every  change  in  the  system 
of  finance,  and  in  the  organization  of  the  exchequer  in  its  judicial 
as  well  as  fiscal  development. 

A  second  stage  in  the  progress  of  kingly  rule  was  marked  by  the 
creation,  under  ^thelred,  of  the  high-reeve,  the  first  effort  of  the 
crown  to  create  a  minister  of  state,  a  deputy  of  its  executive  and  ju- 
dicial power  beside  the  hereditary  ealdormen,  etc.  Fiercely  opposed, 
this  institution  became  permanent  under  Cnut  in  the  "  vice-royalty  " 
of  Godwine ;  under  the  Confessor  in  that  of  Harold ;  and  from  it, 
under  the  Norman  kings,  sprang  the  justiciar.  With  the  consoli- 
dation of  the  royal  administration  there  went  on,  no  doubt,  a  corre- 
sponding development  of  the  royal  justice  in  the  shape  of  appeals 
to  the  king  himself  from  subordinate  jurisdictions ;  and  the  grow- 
ing pressure  of  this  may  have  been  the  cause,  if  not  of  the  institu- 
tion of  the  secundarius  under  Cnut,  at  any  rate  of  the  continuance 
of  this  great  officer  under  a  king  like  the  Confessor,  who  needed  no 
vicegerent  through  absence  from  his  realm,  as  it  was  certainly  the 
cause  of  the  change  of  his  nam.e,  under  the  Norman  kings,  to  that 
of  justiciar.  It  was  thus  the  origin  of  the  three  great  divisions  of 
the  "  king's  court,"  with  their  staff  of  officers,  while  its  executive 
functions  passed  to  the  offspring  of  the  third  body  of  ministers, 
whose  origin  dates  from  the  foreign  kings  of  England,  the  clerks  of 
the  Royal  Chapel. 

The  Royal  Chapel  marks  the  third  stage  in  ministerial  organiza- 
tion. The  high-reeve,  indeed,  early  turned  into  a  power  which 
overawed  the  crown ;  and  the  rapid  extension  of  the  sphere  of  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       525 

"  capellani "  may  mark  a  side  of  the  struggle  for  the  independence  chap.  x. 
of  the  crown.  The  king's  chaplains  are  first  seen  as  a  body  under  " — 
Cnut,  but  rapidly  mount  into  power  under  the  Confessor,  when  the  House  of 
"  king's  writ,"  issued  through  them,  begins  to  be  the  efficient  organ  Godwine. 
of  the  royal  will  throughout  the  realm.  From  their  head,  the  chan-  — 
cellor,  comes  our  equitable  court  of  justice  ;  from  the  rest,  our  secre-  5--J)53. 
taryships  of  state,  with  the  whole  fabric  of  modern  administration.  Notes. 
The  system  had  its  origin  in  lands  whose  circumstances  differed  — 
from  those  of  England.  In  Frankish  and  other  Continental  courts, 
where  the  customary  Teutonic  law  had  to  be  worked  side  by  side 
with  a  Roman  written  law,  the  Roman  clerk  (apocrisiarius,  referen- 
darius,  cancellarius)  was  needed  to  decide  whether  orders  were  ac- 
cordant to  law  or  not  (Kemble,  Sax.  in  Eng.  ii.  114),  or  conflicted 
with  the  written  jurisprudence,  and  to  affix  or  withhold  the  royal 
signet  accordingly.  No  such  need,  however,  existed  in  England, 
and  the  presence  of  the  royal  chaplains,  with  their  head,  the  chan- 
cellor, may  be  best  accounted  for  by  administrative  reasons ;  indeed, 
their  institution  coincides  with  the  new  class  of  royal  writs  which 
came  in  from  the  early  years  of  Cnut's  reign,  issued  by  the  king's 
personal  authority  without  any  confirmation  by  the  Witan.  In  the 
first  appearance  of  the  chancery  under  Cnut,  we  see  traces  of  a  Lo- 
tharingian  organization,  in  the  persons  of  foreign  chaplains,  whose 
presence  was  probably  due  to  their  foreign  training,  and  to  the  ex- 
perience they  may  have  brought  of  the  imperial  chancery.  Eadsige 
(Flor.  Wore,  Thorpe,  i.  193,  on  his  elevation  to  the  archbishopric 
under  Harald),  the  later  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Stigand,  the 
priest  of  Assandun  (Ibid.  p.  199;  he  was  chaplain  to  Harald),  who 
were  among  the  chaplains,  were  indeed  Englishmen.  Wythmann, 
however,  to  whom  Cnut,  in  his  early  days,  gave  the  abbacy  of  Ram- 
sey, was  "Teutonicus  natione  "  (Hist.  Rames.,  Gale,  iii.  404).  So 
Duduc  ("De  Lotharingia  oriundus,"  Flor.  Wore,  Thorpe,  i.  218; 
"natione  Saxo,"  Hunter,  Eccl.  Doc.  p.  15)  was  at  the  close  of  Cnut's 
reign,  in  1033,  Bishop  of  Wells,  and  in  high  favor  with  the  king. 
The  manors  of  Banwell  and  Congresbury  were  "  possessiones  quas 
haereditario  jure  a  rege  ante  episcopatum  promeruerat"  (Hunter, 
Eccl.  Doc.  p.  15);  and  he  seems  in  some  way  to  have  held  the  ab- 
bacy of  Gloucester.  He  was  probably,  therefore,  a  "  capellanus." 
Hermann,  who  was  made  Bishop  of  the  Wilsaetas  in  the  first  years 
of  the  Confessor's  reign,  had  probably  been  inherited  by  him  from 
his  Danish  predecessors,  and  may  have  belonged  to  this  early  group 
of  foreign  chaplains.  To  the  same  group  would  belong  Leofric, 
who  (if  Florence  is  right)  must  have  been  Reginbold's  predecessor 
("  Regis  cancellario  Leofrico  Brytonico  mox  Cridiatunensis  et  Cor- 
nubiensis  datus  est  praesulatus,"  Flor.  Wore,  Thorpe,  i.  199).  Now, 
Leofric  was  "apud   Lotharingos  altus  et  doctus"   (Will.  Malm., 


-2$  .   •   THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.   Gest.  Pontif.  p.  201,  Hamilton).    Cnut's  alliance  with  Conrad  may 

—  have  had  some  influence  in  his  choice  of  Lotharingian  clerks.  This 
House  of  alliance  went  on  between  Eadward  and  Henry ;  the  intrigues  and 
Godwine.  negotiations  before  the  Council  of  Rheims  may  be  connected  with 

—  these  Lotharingians  entering  the  chapel. 

1035-1053.      Under  the  Confessor  the  Royal  Chapel  underwent  marked  changes 
Notes,     alike  in  its  organization  and  in  its  character.     From  1045  we  find  a 

—  chancellor  at  the  head  of  the  clerks  holding  the  royal  seal  which 
Eadward  first  brought  into  use  in  England  ;  while  the  uniform  ten- 
or of  the  writs,  and  the  replacing  of  the  old  English  writing  in  the 
royal  documents  by  the  light  French  hand  in  use  among  foreign 
clerks,  alike  point  to  some  new  arrangement  of  the  secretarial  work 
and  more  exact  organization  of  the  chancery  on  foreign  models. 
From  this  moment,  also,  we  meet  with  almost  exclusively  foreign 
names,  and  these  no  longer  names  of  Lotharingians,  but  of  Nor- 
mans. The  group  of  Lotharingians  who  had  served  under  Cnut 
seems  indeed  to  have  been  wholly  broken  up.  Duduc  had,  even  in 
Cnut's  time,  been  rewarded  by  the  see  of  Wells;  Hermann  was,  in 
1045,  appointed  by  Eadward  to  the  bishopric  of  the  Wilsaetas;  and 
in  the  same  year  Leofric  was  made  Bishop  of  Devonshire  and 
Cornwall.  It  is  possible  that  the  promotion  of  Hermann  and 
Leofric  was  designed  to  clear  the  way  for  the  French  chancery  that 
now  took  the  place  of  the  Lotharingian,  the  members  of  which 
must  have  been  so  closely  connected  with  Godwine's  policy  since 
the  days  of  Cnut;  and  that  this  new  organization  of  the  Royal 
Chapel,  following  so  soon  on  the  appointment  of  Robert  of  Jumieges 
to  the  see  of  London  (in  1044),  marks  an  important  step  in  Ead- 
ward's  opening  struggle  with  the  earl. 

The  earliest  signatures  given  by  Kemble  (Sax.  in  Eng.  ii.  1 1 5) 
date  from  104$,  i.  e.,  from  the  opening  of  the  strife  between  the 
king  and  Godwine — a  significant  date.  They  are  those  of  Her- 
mann capellanus  (Flor.  Wore.  a.  1045),  Wulfwig  cancellarius  (Cod. 
Dip.  779),  Reginboldus  sigillarius  (Cod.  Dip.  810),  Reginboldus 
cancellarius  (Cod.  Dip.  813,  824,  825,  891),  with  a  staff  of  the  same 
date:  ^Ifgeat  notarius  (Cod.  Dip.  825),  Petrus  capellanus  (ib.  813, 
825),  Baldwinus  capellanus  (ib.  813),  Osbernus  capellanus  (ib.  825), 
Robertus  capellanus  (ib.  825).  Then,  in  1047,  Florence  gives  Heca 
as  chaplain,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Selsey ;  and  in  1049  Florence 
also  notes  Ulf  as  chaplain,  who  became  Dishop  of  Dorchester  in 
105 1 ;  Cynesige  as  chaplain,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  York;  and 
William  (1051),  Bishop  of  London  (for  these  Kemble  gives  no  signa- 
tures). Two  other  names  are  from  Florence :  Godmann,  chaplain 
in  1053,  and  Gisa  in  1060.  It  may  be  that  this  organization  of  the 
chancery  or  chapel  marks  Eadward's  first  period;  his  struggle 
with  Godwine,  and  the  foreign  names  of  the  staff,  would  suggest 


universitt; 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLANI^ 

this  idea.     Godwine's  triumph  may  have  given  a  temporary  blow   chap.  x. 

to  this  new  administrative  scheme,  for  Kemble  notes  two  chaplains,       — 

'TI16 
Cynesige  and  William,  as  signing  in  105 1,  but  none  after,  save  Gisa  jj^^g^  q* 

in  1060  (Kemble,  Sax.  in  Eng.  ii.  116).  Godwine. 

The  charter  in  which  Wulfwig  figures  as  "  regiae  dignitatis  cancel-  — 
larius"  (Cod.  Dip.  779)  is  noted  by  Mr.  Freeman  as  "  doubtful."  ^035-1053. 
He  afterwards  succeeded  Ulf  as  Bishop  of  Dorchester.  The  group,  Notes, 
therefore,  really  begins  with  the  Norman  Reginbold.  Reginbold  — 
"appears  in  Domesday  (i8o<5),  by  the  description  of  '  Reinbaldus 
Canceler,'  as  holding  lands  in  Herefordshire  T.R.E."  .  .  .  After  the 
Conquest  "  he  still  held  lands  in  Berkshire  (56^,  60,  63),  Gloucester- 
shire (i66<5),  and  Wiltshire  (68^),  if  he  is,  as  he  doubtless  is,  the  same 
as  *  Reinbaldus  de  Cirencestre '  and  *  Renbaldus  presbyter.'  He 
was  Dean  of  Cirencester  (Ellis,  i.  398),  and  besides  his  lay  fees  he 
held  several  churches  in  Wiltshire  (Dom.  6$^)." — Freeman,  Norm. 
Conq.  ii.  357,  358.  The  permanence  of  the  new  organization  is 
shown  by  his  remaining  with  his  fellows  after  the  restoration  of 
1052.  Thus  he  signs  the  Waltham  charter  as  "regis  Cancellarius," 
with  Peter  and  Baldwin  as  king's  chaplains  (Cod.  Dip.  813).  Of 
the  notary  ^Ifgeat  I  find  no  other  notice.  Peter  and  Baldwin,  as 
we  see,  remained  in  the  chancery  with  Reginbold  to  the  end  of  the 
reign,  when  Baldwin  became  Abbot  of  S.  Edmundsbury  (Freeman, 
Norm.  Conq.  ii.  586.  "  He  had  been  a  monk  of  S.  Denis,  a  cer- 
tain presumption,  though  not  amounting  to  proof,  of  his  French 
origin  ").  Before  his  abbacy  of  S.  Eadmund's  he  had  been  prior  of 
Earl  Odda's  church  at  Deerhurst.  (See  charter  in  Monast.  iv.  665. 
On  Abbot  Leofstan's  illness,  King  Eadward  "  Baldwinum,  S.  Di- 
onysii  monachum,  ejus  artis  peritum,  dirigendum  curavit." — Will. 
Malm.,  Gest.  Pontif.,  Hamilton,  p.  156).  Osbern's  name  indicates 
his  Norman  blood,  but  I  know  no  more  of  him.  Robert  is  of 
course  the  Abbot  of  Jumieges,  and  probably  the  real  mover  in 
the  whole  matter.  Promotion,  indeed,  to  sees  did  not  necessarily 
vacate  the  ministerial  post,  for  Robert  begins  to  sign  as  Bishop  of 
London  in  1046  (Cod.  Dip.  784),  but  this  see  would  leave  him  free 
to  assist  in  the  chancery.  Ulf,  too,  must  have  been  added  to  it  soon 
after  1045,  for  in  1049,  when  named  to  Dorchester,  he  is  described  as 
the  king's  "  preoste"  (Eng.  Chron.,  Ab.  1049),  and  "  regis  capellanus" 
(Flor.  Wore,  Thorpe,  i.  203).  William,  too,  who  is  named  "  chap- 
lain of  the  king"  (Flor.  Wore,  Thorpe,  i.  207),  on  his  promotion 
to  London,  in  1051,  must  have  been  introduced  into  the  chancery 
after  1045,  perhaps  taking  Robert's  place  on  his  rise  to  the  primacy. 

Gisa  alone  among  these  later  chaplains  was  a  Lotharingian ;  he 
was  appointed  Bishop  of  Wells  in  1060,  His  solitary  figure  cannot 
have  materially  changed  the  French  aspect  of  the  chancery  through- 
out Eadward's  reign.    The  fact  that  Walter,  the  Lotharingian  who 


528       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  X.   at  the  same  time  became  Bishop  of  Hereford,  was  Eadgyth's  chap- 

—  lain,  may  show  that  clerks  were  again  being  brought  from  this 
House  of  quarter,  or  simply  be  a  part  of  the  Lotharingian  traditions  of  God- 
Godwine.  wine's  house,  as  shown  by  Adelhard  and  Harold. 

—  [Dr.  Stubbs  has  pointed  out  to  me  another  foreign  chaplain  of 
1035-1053.  Eadward's  of  whom  we  find  mention  elsewhere.     "  Helinandus,  vir 

Notes,     admodum  pauperis  domus  et  obscure   progenitus,  literatura  per- 

—  tenuis  et  persona  satis  exilis,  cum  per  notitiam  Gualteri  comitis 
Pontisarensis,  de  cujus  comitatu  gerebat  originem,  ad  gratiam  Ead- 
vardi  Anglorum  Regis  pertigisset  (uxor  enim  sua  cum  praedicto 
comite  sibi  necessitudinem  nescio  quam  crearat),  capellanus  ejus 
fuit,  et  quia  Francicam  elegantiam  n6rat,  Anglicus  ille  ad  Fran- 
corum  Regem  Henricum  eum  saepius  destinabaf  (Guibertus  de 
Novigento  "  De  Vita  sua,"  lib.  iii.  c.  2,  Opera,  ed.  D'Achery,  p.  496). 
King  Henry  made  him  Bishop  of  Laon  (ibid.)  in  1052;  he  died  in 
1098  (Gallia  Christiana,  vol.  ix.col.  524,  525).  The  second  Bishop 
of  Laon  after  Helinandus  had  also  been  in  the  service  of  a  king  of 
England,  but  this  must  have  been  Henry  L  (Guibertus  "  De  Vita 
sua,"  lib.  iii.  c.  4,  ed.  D'Achery,  p  299).  —A.  S.  G.] 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   NORMAN   CONQUEST. 
1053-1071. 

In  the  revolution  which  restored  Godwine  to  ^difficulties 
power  nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  inac-  wmiam. 
tion  of  William  the  Norman.  To  the  duke,  we  can 
hardly  doubt,  the  sudden  success  of  Godwine  was  a 
bitter  disappointment.  The  overthrow  of  his  hopes 
was  complete.  Whatever  promises  Eadward  may 
have  made  to  him,  he  could  hardly  look  for  their 
fulfilment  save  with  the  aid  of  the  Normans  at  Ead- 
ward's  court,  and  the  Norman  court-party  had  been 
broken  up.  The  Norman  archbishop  was  driven 
over  sea,  and  the  duke  was  not  less  likely  than  his 
people  to  resent  the  wrong  done  to  the  primate. 
The  Norman  knights  who  found  a  refuge  with  the 
Scot  king  soon  fell  beneath  the  axes  of  Siward's 
huscarls.  How  bitter  a  sense  of  disappointment 
lingered  in  Norman  hearts  we  know  from  the  fire 
which  the  memory  of  these  events  kindled  when, 
a  few  years  later,  William  called  Normandy  to 
avenge  them.  Nor  was  the  temper  of  the  duke 
such  as  to  brook  easily  disappointment.  But  wroth 
as  he  might  be,  it  was  impossible  to  attack  England 
with  Flanders  at  her  back.  The  overthrow  of  Will- 
iam's schemes  for  a  Flemish  marriage  by  Godwine's 
dexterous  negotiations  with  pope  and  emperor  still 

34 


r^O       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XL  tied  the  duke's  hands.     From  the  moment  of  the 
The     council,  whether  Baldwin  called  on  William  to  ful- 
conquest  fil  his  pledge  in  vain  or  no,  the  courts  of  Bruges 
1053^071  ^^^  ^^   Rouen  steered  apart  again.     Baldwin  fell 
—     back  on  his  old  alliance  with  the  house  of  Godwine. 
The  marriage  of  Judith  with  Tostig  announced  his 
change  of  policy,  and  promised  to  bind  the  earl  and 
the  count  inseparably  together.     The  fall  of  God- 
wine  only  brought  out  into  clearer  light  the  friend- 
ship of  Flanders.     It  was  in  Flanders  that  the  ear] 
found  refuge  in  his  exile.     It  was  from  Bruges  that 
his  intrigues  with  his  English  supporters  were  car- 
ried on.     His  fleet  was  gathered  in  the  Scheldt,  and 
Flemish  seamen  were  mingled  with  his  own.     Will- 
iam, with  his  own  duchy  still  ill  in  hand  andT" ranee 
watching  jealously  across  his  southern  border,  knew 
well  that  the  estrangement  of  Baldwin  barred  any 
hope  of  attack  over  sea.     Nor  was  this  estrange- 
ment the  least  weighty  of  the  dangers  which  threat- 
ened William  at  home,  for  the  hostility  of  such  a 
neighbor  was  sure  to  stir  into  life  the  smouldering 
discontent  of  the  Norman  baronage. 
^'^         We  see  the  duke's  consciousness  of  this  danger 

marriage.  i  •    i     i  i        •  i 

from  the  step  on  which  he  ventured  with  a  view  of 
dispelling  it.  While  Robert  of  Jumieges  was  still 
pleading  at  the  papal  court,  William,  by  an  act  as 
daring  as  Godwine's,  placed  himself  in  opposition  to 
the  Papacy  and  the  moral  sense  of  Christendom. 
If  he  now  claimed  again  the  hand  of  Matilda,  it  was 
with  a  full  foresight  of  the  difficulties  in  which  such 
a  marriage  was  to  plunge  him.  The  prohibition  of 
Pope  Leo  was  the  most  formidable  of  the  obstacles 
in  his  way.     But  in  1053  Pope  Leo  was  a  prisoner 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       531 

in  the  hands  of  the  Normans,  who  were  founding  a  chap,  xr. 
state  in  southern  Italy;  and  William  seized  the  op-  The 
portunity  to  wed  Baldwin's  daughter.  But  if  Leo  conquest 
was  a  prisoner,  the  Church  was  free,  and  the  duke  iq^^oti^ 
at  once  found  himself  face  to  face  with  the  religious-  — 
censure  of  the  world  about  him.  Rome  laid  the 
duchy  under  interdict.  The  archbishop  of  Rouen, 
his  uncle  Malger,  threatened  William  with  excom- 
munication. His  own  counsellor,  the  prior  of  Bee, 
openly  opposed  the  marriage.  Lanfranc  was  now 
the  foremost  scholar  of  W^estern  Christendom,  and 
his  disapproval  was  weightier  than  even  the  thun- 
ders of  the  Papacy.  It  stung  William  to  the  quick. 
In  a  wild  burst  of  wrath  he  bade  his  men  burn  a 
manor-house  of  Bee  to  the  ground  and  drive  out 
Lanfranc  from  Norman  land.  In  his  haste  to  see 
his  orders  carried  out  the  duke  overtook  the  Italian 
hobblinof  on  a  lame  horse  towards  the  frontier.  He 
angrily  bade  him  hasten,  and  Lanfranc  replied  by  a 
cool  promise  to  go  faster  out  of  his  land  if  he  would 
give  him  a  better  steed.  "  You  are  the  first  crimi- 
nal that  ever,  asked  gifts  from  his  judge,"  retorted 
William ;  but  a  burst  of  laughter  told  that  his  wrath 
had  passed  away,  and  duke  and  prior  drew  quietly 
together  again.  Wise  or  unwise,  Lanfranc  saw  that 
it  was  too  late  to  withstand  the  Flemish  match  ;  and 
William  knew  well  that  no  persuasion  in  Christen- 
dom could  4o  so  much  to  win  over  the  Papacy  to 
forgiveness  as  that  of  the  Prior  of- Bee.  Lanfranc 
made  his  way  to  Rome  and  sought  for  a  dispensa- 
tion. But  six  years  of  tedious  negotiation  passed 
away  and  William  remained  unpardoned,  while  the 
censures  of  the  Church  woke  into  fresh  life  every 


CT^2  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  element  of  hostility  within  and  without  his  land. 
The     The  old  cry  of  bastardy  was  heard  once  more.     The 

Conquest  old  claims  of  rival  branches  of  the  ducal  house  woke 

1053T071  ^g^i^  ^^  ^^^^-  Revolts  of  his  kinsmen,  William  of 
—  Eu  and  William  of  Arques,  revealed  the  existence 
of  a  widespread  plot  among  the  Norman  nobles; 
and  these  were  hardly  trodden  out  before  France  it- 
self drew  the  sword. 

y/cfor}>  of  Kins:  Henry  was  still  bent  on  the  policy  of  bal- 
ance  which  held  one  feudatory  at  bay  by  help  of 
another.  A  few  years  back,  when  Geoffrey  Martel 
threatened  his  crown,  he  had  relieved  himself  of  the 
pressure  of  the  Angevin  by  alliance  with  the  Nor- 
man duke.  He  now  resolved  to  break  the  power  of 
Normandy  by  an  alliance  with  the  Angevin.  After 
fruitless  aid  to  the  Norman  rebels  the  king  himself 
took  the  field.  One  French  army  marched  from 
Beauvais  on  Normandy  to  the  right  of  the  Seine ; 
another  under  Henry  himself  advanced  from  Man- 
tes on  the  duchy  to  the  left  of  the  river.  The  aid 
which  came  to  the  invader  from  Chartres  and  Aqui- 
taine,  from  the  men  of  Rheims  and  Laon,  as  from 
the  burghers  of  Tours  and  Blois,  shows  how  widely 
the  greatness  of  William  had  revived  the  old  hatred 
of  the  Normans.  But  the  number  of  his  assailants 
only  heightened  William's  triumph.  To  meet  the 
double  attack  the  Norman  forces  were  parted  in 
two  divisions,  William  himself  leading  the  southern 
army,  which  defended  the  country  between  the 
Seine  and  the  Oise,  while  four  of  the  barons  headed 
a  body  which  guarded  the  land  between  the  Seine 
and  the  Bresle.  It  was  the  last  which  first  en- 
countered the  invaders.     The  French  army  under 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 


533 


Henry's  brother,  Odo,  and  Count  Guy  of  Ponthieu,  chap,  xi. 
which  penetrated  into  the  country  about  Aumale,  The 
had  taken  up  its  quarters  in  the  Httle  town  of  Mor-  conquest, 
temer,  when  it  was  surprised  by  the  Norman  onset.  io5aTo7i. 
The  town  was  set  on  fire,  the  French  were  slain  as 
they  hurried  from  its  streets,  and  the  whole  army 
forced  back  in  utter  rout  across  the  border.  At 
night  the  news  reached  William  as  he  lay  with  his 
host  fronting  Henry  on  the  Seine.  The  cool  craft 
and  grim  humor  which  underlay  his  dauntless  cour- 
age showed  itself  in  the  use  he  made  of  the  victory. 
Ralf  of  Toesny  was  sent  to  climb  a  tree  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  king's  camp,  and  at  dawn  the 
Frenchmen  heard  him  shouting  the  famous  words 
which  still  live  in  the  verse  of  Wace, "  Up,  French- 
men, up  ;  you  sleep  too  long ;  go  bury  your  brothers 
that  lie  dead  at  Mortemer !"  Panic  spread  with  the 
news  through  the  invading  army,  and  before  the 
sun  was  high  its  tents  were  in  a  blaze,  and  Henry 
was  hurrying  in  retreat  towards  Paris.  He  pur- 
chased the  release  of  the  French  barons  who  lay  in 
William's  prisons  by  a  peace  which  was  concluded 
in  1055,  and  which  left  William  free  to  deal  with 
Geoffrey  of  Anjou.  The  capture  of  Count  Guy  in 
the  battle  of  Mortemer  had  enabled  William  to  ex- 
act an  acknowledgment  of  his  lordship  over  Pon- 
thieu as  the  price  of  liberation ;  and  a  march  from 
Domfront  now  won  a  like  acknowledgment  from 
the  lord  of  Mayenne.  His  submission  carried  Will- 
iam still  further  in  the  process  of  aggrandizement 
which  was  tearing  the  Maine  country  bit  by  bit 
from  the  grasp  of  Anjou. 

While  William  was  thus  fighting  against  odds  in 


e^.       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  his  own  land  he  was  in  no  case  to  hinder  the  tri- 
The     umph  of  Godwine  or  Godwine's  house  in  lands  over 

conquest  sea.     Godwine,  indeed,  was  fated  to  reap  little  from 

i05aTo7i  ^^^  victory  he  had  won.     Soon  after  his  return  he 
—     began  to  sicken,  and  in  April,  1053,  he  suddenly  fell 

Harold,  speechless  at  the  king's  board.  With  his  death 
Harold  became  Earl  of  the  West  Saxons.  The 
death  of  Godwine,  indeed,  strengthened  the  position 
of  his  house.  It  at  once  changed  its  whole  relation 
to  the  king.  Whatever  stain  of  Alfred's  blood  lay 
on  Godwine,  none  lay  on  his  sons.  Eadward  had 
no  galling  sense  that  he  owed  them  his  crown,  or 
that  he  had  failed  in  a  struggle  to  break  their  power. 
The  earl's  children  had  grown  up  in  the  king's  court ; 
they  were  his  wife's  kinsmen,  and  they  seem  to  have 
shared  the  awe  of  the  king's  .saintliness  which  was 
becoming  general  about  them.  From  this  time, 
therefore,  Eadward's  antipathy  died  gradually  away. 
The  wife  whom  he  had  discarded  a  year  before  won 
his  affection.  Tostig  became  his  almost  inseparable 
companion  in  chase  or  palace.  Harold,  if  less  cher- 
ished than  his  brother,  was  still  regarded  with  favor. 
He  took  his  father's  place  as  the  king's  counsellor, 
but  he  was  careful  to  hide  the  fact  of  his  supremacy 
under  demonstrations  of  loyal  obedience  to  the  king. 
"  He  always  faithfully  obeyed  his  rightful  lord  in 
word  and  deed,"  says  the  singer  of  Eadward's  death- 
song,  "  nor  left  unheeded  what  was  needful  to  his 
king."  Over  England,  no  doubt,  the  young  earl's 
name  exercised  at  first  less  command  than  his  fa- 
ther's. But  soon  England  saw  with  relief  a  ruler 
who  brought  with  him  no  dark  memories  of  the 
past,  who  had  not  stood  by  the  invader's  side  at 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^^5 

Assandun,  whose  first  rise  had  not  sprung  from  the  chap,  xi. 
favor  of  a  foreign  king,  the  sense  of  whose  greatness     The 
was  not  dashed  by  suspicions  of  an  aethehng  s  mur-  conqueS. 
der  or  by  tolerance  of  Swein's  crimes.  1053^071. 

Nor  was  Harold  to  prove  himself  wholly  unworthy  — 
of  the  singular  fortune  which  gave  king  and  people  character, 
alike  peacefully  into  his  hands.  Born  about  1021, 
in  the  opening  of  Cnut's  reign,  he  was  now  in  the 
prime  of  life  and  vigor,  a  tall,  comely  man,  robust  of 
frame,  courteous  and  conciliatory,  in  temper  a  typi- 
cal Englishman,  indifferent  to  abuse,  gifted  with  a 
cool  self-command.  Morally  he  rose  in  some  points 
above  his  father's  level ;  he  was  gentler  in  mood, 
more  tolerant  of  opposition,  more  prone  to  forgive ; 
he  had  far  greater  sympathy  with  English  religion 
and  English  culture.  He  had  inherited  from  God- 
wine  an  equal  capacity  for  council  and  for  war;  he 
showed  himself,  in  the  years  that  followed,  an  active 
soldier  and  a  skilful  administrator.  But  in  political 
ability  he  fell  greatly  below  his  father.  Of  the  far- 
reaching  statesmanship  which  had  been  Godwine's 
characteristic,  of  hjs  capacity  for  wide  combinations, 
of  his  foresight,  his  resource,  the  quickness  with 
which  he  understood  the  need  of  change,  and  the 
moment  for  changing,  Harold  had  little  or  none. 
But  he  was  loyal  to  the  policy  of  his  house,  and  his 
patient,  steady  temper  was  as  fitted  as  that  of  his 
father  for  gradually  winning  back  the  power  which 
the  revolution  of  105 1  had  shaken.  As  yet  no 
dreams-of  any  higher  ambition  seem  to  have  visited 
the  mind  of  HaT©ld-;-^Jiis  first  political  act,  indeed, 
was  to  co-operate  with  Eadward  in  providing  for  the 
succession  to  the  crown.     All  hope  that  the  king 


536 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


CHAP.  XI.  would  beget  children  by  Eadgyth  had  now  passed 
The  away ;  and,  whether  they  were  true  or  false,  whispers 
conquest  fi*om  over  sea  of  a  promise  to  William  of  Normandy 
,n.r7n.r,  wouM  spur  the  West-Saxon  earl  to  a  settlement  of 
—  the  question.  The  kmgs  nearest  kmsman  was  liv- 
ing in  a  far-off  land.  Tw^o  infant  children  of  Ead- 
mund  Ironside  had  found  a  refuge  from  Cnut,  nearly 
forty  years  back,  in  Hungary ;  and  one  of  them,  the 
king's  nephew,  Eadward,  was  still  living  there  with 
his  son,  Eadgar,  and  his  daughters,  Margaret  and 
Christina.  Eadward  resolved  to  call  the  aetheling 
home  and  own  him  for  his  heir;  and,  in  1054,  Bishop 
Ealdred  w^as  sent  on  this  errand  to  the  imperial 
court. 
Harold's  Huns^ary,  however,  was  now  at  war  with  the  Em- 
Mercia.  pirc,  and  after  waiting  a  year  at  Cologne,  Ealdred 
was  forced  to  return  and  leave  the  plan  to  be  carried 
out  in  more  peaceful  times.  Conciliatory,  however, 
as  was  his  demeanor  towards  the  king,  Harold  clung 
steadily  to  his  father's  policy  of  gathering  England 
and  its  earldoms  into  the  hands  of  his  house.  But 
we  trace  the  caution  and  subtlety  of  his  temper  in 
the  arrangements  which  followed  on  Godwine's  re- 
turn and  death.  The  great  Northumbrian  earldom 
remained  to  Siward  ;  the  great  West-Saxon  earldom 
was  taken  by  Harold  himself.  The  policy  of  God- 
wine,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  to  break  up  the 
Mercian  earldom,  till  the  province  of  Leofric  was 
reduced  to  little  more  than  Cheshire,  Shropshire, 
and  Staffordshire.  But  the  death  of  Beorn,  the 
exile  of  Swein,  and  the  revolution  of  105 1  had  done 
much  to  build  up  again  the  central  earldom.  .  Mid- 
Britain  and  Lincolnshire  seem  now  to  have  become 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       537 

attached  to  Leofric,  and  Mercia  may  have  already  chap,  xi. 
stretched  southward  again  as  far  as  Oxford,  while     The 
Harold's  old  earldom  of  East  Anglia  had  gone  to  conquest. 
Leofric's  son,  ^  If  gar.     But  the  annexation  of  Not-^Qg^Q^^ 
tinghamshire  to   Northumbria  deprived   Mercia  of     — 
its  hold  on  the  Trent,  and  ran  a  block  of  strange 
territory  into  the  heart  of  Leofric's  earldom ;  the 
grant  of  Huntingdonshire  and  Northamptonshire  to 
Siward  barred  all  contact  between  the  possessions 
of  Leofric  and  his  son ;  while  Mercia  was  cut  off 
from  the  Severn  and  the  Welsh  by  the  retention  of 
Ralf  in  his  earldom  of  the  Magesaetas,  or  Hereford- 
shire, and  the  assignment,  as  seems  likely,  of  the 
Hwiccas  of  Worcestershire  and  Gloucestershire  to 
Odda,  in  compensation  for  his  loss  of  western  Wes- 
sex.     By  these  adroit  arrangements  the  assent  not 
only  of  Siward  and  the  king's  kinsmen  was  secured 
•to  Harold's  elevation,  but  even  the  Mercian  house 
was  won  over,  while  its  real  power   of  action   re- 
mained dexterously  fettered. 

In  the  course  of  the  following  year,  however,  the  ^^^^'« 
death  of  the  Earl  of  Northumbria  set  Harold  more  bria. 
free  to  carry  forward  his  father's  plan  of  absorbing 
all  England  within  the  rule  of  his  house.  Never 
had  Siward's  name  been  so  great  as  in  his  later 
years.  His  energetic  action  had  done  much  to  dis- 
place Godwine ;  and  if  he  consented  to  the  earl's  re- 
turn it  was  doubtless  not  without  a  price.  At  any 
rate,  the  year  1053  brought  his  continuous  rule  south- 
ward as  far  as  the  Trent  in  Nottinghamshire,  and 
planted  him  in  Mid-Britain  as  Earl  of  Northampton 
and  Huntingdon,  making  his  power  such  as  might 
well  balance  that  of  the  house  of  Godwine.     An- 


c-28       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  other  part  of  the  price  may  possibly  have  been  the 
The  assent  of  Godwine  and  Harold  to  a  declaration  of 
c^nquesl  war  on  the  Scot  kingdom,  to  which  Siward  was 
1053T071  urged  alike  by  ambition  and  by  family  ties.  Under 
—  the  rule  of  Duncan  the  Scot  kingdom  had  sunk  low. 
The  Orkney  jarls  had  become  masters  of  the  West- 
ern Isles,  of  Caithness,  and  of  the  whole  western 
coast  to  Galloway.  The  Mormaer,  or  under-king,  of 
Moray  was  practically  independent  in  the  north. 
The  weakness  of  Duncan  himself  was  fatally  shown 
by  the  failure  of  the  earlier  attack  which  he  had 
made  on  Northumbria,  in  spite  of  his  close  connec- 
tion by  marriage  with  its  earls.  In  1040,  a  year  be- 
fore the  extension  of  Siward's  power  beyond  the 
limits  of  Deira,  Duncan  made  a  fruitless  raid  as  far 
as  Durham ;  the  burghers  beat  him  back  from  the 
walls,  and  the  Scots  owed  their  safety  to  their  horses, 
while  Scottish  heads  hung  round  the  battlements  of 
the  city.  Immediately  after  this  defeat,  Duncan  was 
slain  by  his  subjects,  and  Macbeth,  the  Mormaer  of 
Moray,  to  whose  charge  the  crime  was  laid,  mounted 
the  Scottish  throne,  while  Duncan's  two  sons  sought 
refuge  with  the  Northumbrian  earl.  Though  the 
rise  of  Macbeth  seems  to  have  marked  a  political 
revolution,  the  troubles  of  England,  and  it  may  be 
the  jealousy  of  Godwine,  had  till  now  stood  in  the 
way  of  Siward's  action.  But  as  the  boys  grew  to 
manhood  the  ties  of  kinship  told  on  Siward,'  while 
the  political  advantages  to  which  such  a  kinship 

'  Duncan  must  have  been  closely  connected  with  the  Northum- 
brian earls ;  for  he  was  the  father  of  these  two  boys  by  a  wife  whom 
Fordun  (iv.  44)  calls  "  consanguinea  Siwardi  comitis."  As  this  mar- 
riage was  before  1040,  the  kinship  must  have  come  about  through 
Siward's  wife,  Earl  Ealdred's  daughter. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 


539 


might  be  turned  may  have  influenced  Eadward  and  chap,  xi. 
Harold.  The 

A  new  cause  for  action  had  now  made  itself  felt,  conquest. 
The  flight  of  a  body  of  Normans  to  the  Scottish  j^g^^i 
court  on  Godwine's  return  from  exile  forced  on  the   ^ — :  ^ 

Death  of 

struggle.  The  power  of  Macbeth  had  been  doubled  siward. 
by  his  close  alliance  with  the  Orkney  jarls,  and  his 
reception  of  the  Normans  threatened  danger  to  the 
English  realm.  It  was  "  by  the  king's  order  "  that 
Siward  marched  over  the  border  to  fight  Macbeth. 
The  danger  was  soon  dispelled.  In  1054  a  North- 
umbrian fleet  appeared  off  the  Scottish  coast,  and 
a  Northumbrian  army  met  Macbeth  and  his  Orkney 
allies  in  a  desperate  battle.  The  English  victory 
was  complete ;  the  Normans  were  cut  to  pieces,  and 
Macbeth  fled  to  his  Norse  allies,  to  perish  after  four 
years  of  unceasing  struggle  with  Duncan's  son,  Mal- 
colm, whom  Siward  placed  on  the  Scottish  throne. 
But  the  English  loss  was  heavy.  Many  of  the  hus- 
carls,  both  of  Siward  and  of  the  king,  lay  on  the 
field.  There,  too,  fell  his  son,  Osbeorn,  and  his  sis- 
ter's son,  Siward.  "  Were  his  wounds  in  front  or 
behind  him  V  Siward  was  said  to  have  asked  at  the 
news  of  Osbeorn's  fall,  and  when  assured  that  all 
were  in  front,  to  have  said  he  wished  no  other  end, 
either  for  Osbeorn  or  himself.  But  while  Macbeth 
escaped,  Siward  was  forced  to  fall  back  to  prepare  a 
fresh  attack.  His  end,  however,  was  near.  Early 
in  the  next  year,  1055,  he  died  at  York.'  Legend 
told  how,  as  sickness  grew  on  him  in  the  year  after 
his  victory,  the  earl  called  for  his  arms  and  stood 
harnessed   to    meet   the   call   of   death.      "  It   was 

'  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1055. 


c^o       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XL  shame,"  he  said,  "  for  warrior  to  die  like  a  cow !" ' 
Th^     At  Galmanho,  in  a  suburb  of  York,  he  had  reared 

SueTt  a  minster  to  St.  Olaf,'  and  there  he  lay  buried.    The 

1053T071.  church  grew  into  the  great  abbey  of  St.  Mary,  but  a 
—     parish  church  beside  it  still  preserves  Olaf s  name. 

Tosiigm       jj^g  death  of  Siward,  and  the  old  aee  of  Leofric, 

Nor  t hum-  ^ 

bria.  who  was  now  drawmg  to  the  grave,  removed  the 
check  which  their  power  had  laid  alike  on  Godwine 
and  his  son  since  the  earl's  return.  The  moment 
was  come  for  undoing  all  that  the  revolution  of  1051 
had  done;  and  Harold  took  up  again  his  father's 
policy  of  gathering  England,  province  by  province, 
into  the  hands  of  his  house.  Siward  had  left  but  a 
boy,  Waltheof,  too  young  to  bridle  the  rough  men 
of  the  north ;  and  passing  over  this  child,  Harold, 
in  1055,  set  his  brother  Tostig  as  earl  over  the 
Northumbrians.  The  step  was  a  weighty  one,  not 
only  in  its  relation  to  the  house  of  Godwine,  but  as 
carrying  forward  the  gradual  consolidation  of  Eng- 
land itself.  How  steadily  the  royal  authority  had 
made  its  way  during  Ead ward's  reign  was  now 
shown  by  the  accomplishment  of  what  Eadgar  and 
Dunstan  had  been  unable  to  attempt,  the  bringing 
of  Northumbria  itself  frankly  into  the  general  system 
of  the  realm.  Till  now  Northumbria  had  held  jeal- 
ously to  a  partial  independence.  Siward  was  a  Dane, 
and  he  was  wedded  to  a  wife  who  sprang  from  the 
blood  of  the  old  Northumbrian  rulers.  Loyal  as  he 
was  to  Eadward,  his  temper  was  too  fierce  to  brook 
interference  from  the  south,  nor  did  royal  court  or 
council  concern  themselves  with  Siward's  earldom. 

^  Hen.  Huntingdon  (Hamilton),  pp.  195,  196. 
»  Eng.  Chron.  a.  1055. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^41 

Little  of  the  justice  and  order  which  prevailed  south  chap,  xi. 
of  the  H umber  had  as  yet  made  their  way  to  the     The 
north  of  it.     It  was  only  by  cruelty  and  violence  that  c^quest. 
Siward  held  the  country  together.     But,  stern   as^^g^^j 
Siward's  temper  was,  he  was  of  kin  to  the  men  he     — 
ruled.     Tostig,  dear   as   he   was    to    Eadward,  and 
matched  though  he  might  be  with  the  daughter  of 
the  Flemish  count,  had   nothing  to  link  him  with 
the   north.      He  was  neither   Dane  nor  Northum- 
brian.    He  was  a  West  Saxon  who  came  solely  in 
right  of  his  choice  by  the  West-Saxon  king  and  the 
far-off  Witan  in  the  south,  and  with  him  came  the 
English  rule ; '  under  the  new  earl,  king's  writs  ran 
to  the  north  of  H umber  as  they  ran  to  the  south  of 
it.     Nor  was  Tostig's  temper  likely  to  win  the  love 
of  the    Northumbrians.      Stern,  grave,  reserved,  he 
carried  a  passionate  love  of  justice  into  this  chaos  of 
feuds  and  outrages.     He  forced  peace  upon  the  land 
by  taking  of  life  and  by  maiming  of  limb."     Only 

*  The  very  character  of  the  rising  against  Tostig,  in  later  days, 
shows  that  the  Northumbrians  now  considered  themselves  fully  sub- 
jects of  the  English  realm,  and  bound  to  appeal  for  justice  to  the 
English  king ;  while  the  failure  of  Harald  Hardrada  to  attract  their 
support,  even  against  Harold,  shows,  at  least,  how  much  the  old 
sense  of  northern  isolation  had  been  weakened. 

"  Tostig's  order  was  bought  by  a  merciless  justice,  "  patriam  pur- 
gando  talium  cruciatu  vel  nece,  et  nulli  quantwnlibet  nodiV/  pavcendo 
qui  in  hoc  deprehensus  esset  crimine/' — Vita  Edw.  (Luard),  p.  422. 
There  was  nothing  wonderful  in  Northumbria  in  his  having  Gamel, 
son  of  Orm,  and  Ulf,  son  of  Dolfin,  cut  down  in  1064.  "  Eboraci  in 
camera  sua  sub  pacis  fcedere  per  insidias." — Flor.  Wore.  (Thorpe),  i. 
223.  What  marked  it  was  the  rank  of  the  sufferers.  Orm,  Gamel 's 
father,  had  married  a  daughter  of  Earl  Ealdred  and  a  sister  of  Si- 
ward's  wife  ;  and  though  Gamel  was  not  her  son,  he  was  thus  of  kin 
to  the  house  of  Siward.  Englishmen  and  Danes  alike  joined  in  the 
bitter  hostility  awakened  by  Tostig's  rule.  In  the  leaders  of  the 
rising  of  1065,  we  see,  among  other  great  nobles,  Gamel-bearn,  who 


CA2  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  over  his  northern  border  did  he  carry  out  the  pol- 
Th^     icy  of  his  predecessor.     Malcolm,  still  hard-pressed 

Norman 

Conquest,  added  to  vast  estates  in  Yorkshire  a  holding  in  Staffordshire  ;  Dun- 
1053^71  Stan,  the  son  of  ^thelnoth,  whose  lands  may  have  lain  about  Pom- 
—  fret ;  and  Glonieorn,  the  son  of  Heardolf.  With  them,  also,  was 
young  Waltheof,  Siward's  son,  and  his  kinsman,  Oswulf,  Eadwulf  of 
Bernicia's  son,  whom  the  revolution  of  1065  was  to  set  for  a  while 
in  his  father's  Bernician  earldom  ;  Copsige.  too,  who  for  a  time  had 
been  Tostig's  deputy  in  the  north,  and  was  under  William  to  seek 
to  become  Bernician  earl,  and  to  fall  by  Oswulf  s  sword  ;  and  Siward 
and  Ealdred,  descendants  of  Earl  Uhtred  by  his  third  wife,  .^Ifgifu. 
Also  Maerleswegen,  the  shire-reeve,  to  whom  Harold  gave  the  north 
in  hand  after  the  battle  of  Stamford  Bridge,  the  wealthiest  of  Eng- 
lish proprietors,  with  great  domains  in  the  southwest  as  far  as  Corn- 
wall ;  Archill  "  potentissimus  Northanhymbrorum  "  (Ord.  Vit.,  Du- 
chesne, p.  511  C),  whose  vast  estates  stretched  from  Yorkshire  to 
Warwick  (Ellis,  Domesday,  ii.  41) ;  and  Gospatric,  the  later  Earl  of 
Northumbria,  who  through  his  mother,  Ealdgyth,  traced  his  descent 
to  Earl  Uhtred  and  his  wife,  .^Ifgifu,  the  daughter  of  King.^thel- 
red. 

The  incidents  of  the  yet  later  struggle  with  William  the  Conquer- 
or throw  light  on  the  wild  life  of  the  earlier  Northumbria.  Of  the 
last  hero  of  the  north.  Earl  Waltheof,  songs  told  how  head  after 
head  of  the  Frenchmen  was  shorn  off  by  his  sword-stroke  as  they 
sallied  forth  from  the  gate  of  York  ;  told  of  his  tall  figure  and  mighty 
strength  and  sinewy  arms  and  bull-like  chest. — Will.  Malm.,  Gest. 
Reg.  (Hardy),  i.  427.  The  Saga  of  the  Scandinavians  made  him  burn 
one  hundred  Frenchmen  in  a  wood  after  the  fight,  and  give  their 
corpses  to  the  wolves  of  Northumberland. — Saga  of  Harald  Hardra- 
da  (Laing),  Sea  Kings  of  Norway,  iii.  95.  Oswulf,  when  Copsige  dis- 
possesses him,  "  in  fame  et  egestate  sylvis  latitans  et  montibus,  tan- 
dem collectis  quos  eadem  necessitas  compulerat  sociis." — Sim.  Durh., 
Gest.  Reg.  a.  1072.  Churches  gave  no  sanctuary:  Copsige  takes 
refuge  in  one,  but  "  incendio  ecclesiae  compellitur  usque  ad  ostium 
procedere,  ubi  in  ipso  ostio  manibus  Osulfi  detruncatur."  —  Ibid. 
Then  a  robber  kills  Oswulf:  "cum  in  obvii  sibi  latronis  lanceam 
prseceps  irruerat,  illico  confossus  interiit." — Ibid.  So  in  the  rising  of 
1068,  "seditiosi  silvas,  paludes,  aestuaria  et  urbes  aliquot  in  munimen- 
tis  habent." — Ord.  Vit.  (Duchesne),  511  B.  "Plures  in  tabernaculis 
morabantur;  in  domibus,  ne  mollescerent,  requiescere  dedignaban- 
tur,  unde  quidam  eorum  a  Normannis  silvatici  cognominabantur." 
— Ibid.  C.  When  Robert  of  Comines  takes  refuge  in  the  bishop's 
house  at  Durham,  "domum  cum  inhabitantibus  concremaverunt." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


543 


by  Macbeth  and  the  Orkney  men,  was  thrown  on  chap,  xi. 
the  friendship  of  Northumbria ;  and  Tostig,  as  his     The 
"  sworn  brother,"  gave  him  substantial  help  in  the  conquest 
maintenance  of  his  throne.  1053T071 

The  death  of  Siward,  the  elevation  of  Tostig,  — 
could  hardly  fail  to  rouse  to  a  new  effort  the  one  of  East 
house  which  remained  to  vie  with  the  house  of  God-  "^  ''^' 
wine.  Girt  in  by  Godwine's  sons  to  north  and  to 
south,  isolated  in  Mid-Britain,  Leofric  was  too  old 
and  sickly  to  renew  single-handed  and  without  help 
from  the  king  the  struggle  of  105 1.  But  his  son, 
^Ifgar  of  East  Anglia,  was  now  practically  master 
of  Mid-Britain,  and  in  this  emergency  seems  to  have 
sought  aid  from  his  Welsh  neighbors  in  the  west. 
His  alliance  with  Gruffydd  of  north  Wales  marks 
the  establishment  of  new  political  relations  between 
England  and  the  Welsh  princes.  No  league  of 
Englishmen  with  Welshmen  with  a  view  of  influ- 
encing English  politics  had  been  seen  since  Penda's 
league  with  Cadwallon.  The  co-operation  of  the 
Welshmen  with  the  Danes  had  been  simply  a  co- 
operation of  two  foes  against  England  itself.  But 
from  the  time  of  /Elfgar  to  the  time  of  Earl  Simon 
of  Montfort,  the  Welsh  play  a  part  in  English  his- 
tory as  allies  of  English  combatants.  The  danger 
was  the  greater  that  Gruffydd  had  just  become  mas- 
ter, through  the  death  of  a  rival,  of  the  whole  of  our 
modern  Wales;  and  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  it 
was  tidings  of  a  negotiation  between  earl  and  prince 

— Sim.  Durh.,  Gest.  Reg.  a.  1069.  In  the  wild  country  beyond  the 
Tyne,  the  clerks  with  Cuthbert's  body,  as  they  fled  to  Holy  Isle, 
found  a  "  praepositus  Gillo-Michael,"  a  "son  of  the  devil,"  who  robbed 
them  of  all  he  could,  sacred  as  their  burden  was.  Priests,  whether 
a  hundred  or  ten,  were  among  the  slain  at  Fulford. 


CAA  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  that  drove  Harold  to  a  sudden  stroke,  in  the  banish- 
Th^  ment  of  ^^Ifgar  by  the  Witan  in  the  spring  of  1055. 
conquest  ^Ifgar  avenged  his  outlawry  by  drawing  a  Dan- 
1053T071  is^  ^^^^^  ^^^^  Ireland  and  joining  Gruffydd  in  a 
, —  raid  on  Herefordshire.  The  rout  of  Earl  Ralf's 
i^w/  forces  called  Harold  to  the  field;  but  his  cool  sense 
preferred  peace  to  a  useless  victory;  and  at  the 
close  of  the  year  ^Ifgar  was  suffered  to  return, 
baffled,  to  his  earldom  and  to  look  on  at  the  further 
advancement  of  the  house  of  Godwine.  The  terms 
of  his  restoration  were  seen  on  Leofric  s  death  in 
1057.  -^Ifgar  was  allowed  to  take  his  father's  earl- 
dom, but  it  was  an  earldom  shorn  of  many  of  its 
older  provinces.  The,  earl  was  girt  in  on  almost 
every  side  by  the  possessions  of  the  rival  house. 
Tostig  and  Harold  lay,  as  before,  to  the  north  and 
the  south  of  him.  His  own  earldom  of  East  Anglia 
was  given  to  Harold's  brother  Gyrth.  The  whole 
line  of  the  Thames  was  grasped  by  the  two  younger 
sons  of  Godwine.  Gyrth,  with  his  outlying  earldom 
of  Oxfordshire^  held  its  upper  waters.  Leofwine 
possessed  the  shires  about  its  lower  course,  Essex, 
Middlesex,  Hertford,  possibly  Buckingham  to  the 
north  of  it,  Kent  and  Surrey  to  the  south.  The 
earldoms  of  Northamptonshire  and  Nottingham- 
shire, held  by  Tostig  as  they  had  been  held  by  Si- 
ward,  pressed  ^Ifgar  still  closer  to  the  east ;  while 
on  his  western  border  Harold  himself,  on  the  deaths 
of  Odda  and  of  Ralf,  took  possession  of  the  earldom 
of  the  Magesastas  and  the  course  of  the  Severn  as  a 
check  on  the  junction  of  ^Ifgar  and  the  Welsh. 
Deaf/i        The  aim  which  Godwine  had  set  before  him  was 

0/  the 

(Btheiing.  all  but  reached.     Only  a  few  shires  in  the  heart  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND. 


545 


the   country  had  escaped  the  grasp  of  his  house,  chap^xi. 
And  at  the  moment  of  this  great  accession  of  power     The 
fate  flung  in  Harold's  way  the  crown  itself.     The  conquest 
aetheling  Eadward  at  last  came  from   Hungary  tOiossIioTi. 
receive  the  pledge  of  his  cousin's  throne,  but  he  had     — 
hardly  landed  w^hen  he  died  at  London.     "  Rueful 
was  it  and  harmful  to  all  this  folk,"  sang  an  English 
singer,  "  that  he  so  soon  ended  his  life  when  he  to 
England  came,  for  mishap  to  this  wretched  people." 
How  great  a  mishap  his  death  was  no  singer  could 
know.     At  first  it  seemed  to  transmit  the  succes- 
sion to  his  son  Eadgar ;  and  young  as  the  boy  was, 
he  might  find  in  Harold  a  guardian  stronger  and 
mightier  than  the  elder  Eadgar  had  found  in  Dun- 
stan,  or  y^thelred  in  ^thelwine.     But  the  blow  had 
wakened  bolder  and  less  noble  thoughts  in  Harold's 
breast;  and  from  the  aetheling's  death,  in  1057,  we 
may  date  the  upgrowth  of  that  ambition  which  was 
to  wreck  England  in  its  fall. 

Harold,  throughout  his  career,  had  found  himself  The  aim 
with  few  of  Godwine's  difficulties  to  face;  neither  the'' 
king's  ill-will,  nor  the  opposition  of  the  court,  nor 
the  rivalry  of  the  great  earls,  nor  the  violence  of 
Swein.  The  jealousy  of  new  and  advancing  great- 
ness which  dogged  the  father's  steps  hampered  the 
son's  progress  but  little.  The  court  was  with  him. 
The  land  grew  accustomed  to  the  power  of  his 
house.  A  few  years  broke  the  influence  of  every 
rival.  The  death  of  Si  ward,  the  old  age  of  Leofric 
and  the  exile  of  his  son,  left  Mercia  and  Northum- 
berland at  his  feet.  Eadward's  growing  weakness 
threw  power  more  and  more  into  his  hands,  and  as 
the  king's  end  drew  near  the  death  of  his  destined 

35 


ca6  the  conquest  of  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  successor  bequeathed,  as  it  seemed,  the  crown  to  a 
The  boy  whose  age  left  him  naturally  under  the  earl's 
conquest  guardianship.  Had  Harold  been  content  with 
1053T071  power  the  death  of  Eadward  would  have  left  him  as 
—  completely  master  of  England  as  before.  But  his 
air  of  cool  reserve  and  self-command  masked  an  am- 
bition of  that  meaner  sort  which  craves  not  only 
power,  but  the  show  of  power.  Harold  longed  not 
to  be  the  ruler  of  England  only,  but  to  be  its  king. 
During  the  last  years  of  Eadward's  life  he  was  plan- 
ning a  constitutional  revolution  of  the  gravest  kind 
— the  setting  aside  a  great  national  tradition,  in  the 
transfer  of  the  crown  from  the  house  of  Cerdic  to  a 
house  which  had  sprung  only  a  few  years  before 
from  utter  obscurity.  Daring  and  unscrupulous  as 
such  a  project  was,  the  power  which  Godwine  had 
bequeathed  to  his  son  made  it  possible,  had  Harold 
held  the  threads  of  Godwine's  policy  with  a  hand 
like  Godwine's.  But  the  lower  ability  of  the  man 
was  seen  in  the  way  in  which  advantage  after  ad- 
vantage was  thrown  away.  At  home  the  union  of 
the  house  of  Godwine  itself  was  broken.'  His  for- 
eign relations  snapped  one  by  one.  Flanders  was 
lost.  The  Papacy  was  lost.  Norway  was  left  to 
prepare  an  attack  unhindered  by  Swedish  interven- 
tion. Across  the  Channel  his  advance  was  watched 
by  one  even  more  able  and  ambitious  than  himself.' 

^  In  Tostig's  visit  to  Nicolas  in  1061,  and  in  the  remonstrances  of 
the  queen  alluded  to  at  the  king's  death  ("  Fre^uentius  declamasse 
.  .  .  turn  in  frequentibus  monitis  ipsum  regem  et  reginam" — Vit. 
Edw.,  Luard,  p.  432),  we  may  see  traces  of  discord  in  the  house  of 
Godwine. 

^  I  have  formed  the  close  of  this  chapter  by  taking  some  pages 
from  the  History  of  the  English  People,  i.  1 1 1  ^/  se^.—^A.  S.  G.) 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


547 


William's  hopes  of  the  English  crown  are  said  to  chap.xi. 
have  been  revived  by  a  storm  which  threw  Harold,  The 
while  cruising  in  the  Channel,  on  the  coast  of  Pon-  inquest 
thieu.  Its  count  sold  him  to  the  duke ;  and  as  the  105317071 
price  of  return  to  England  William  forced  him  to 
swear  on  the  relics  of  saints  to  support  his  claim  to 
its  throne.  But,  true  or  no,  the  oath  told  little  on 
Harold's  course.  As  the  childless  king  drew  to  his 
grave  one  obstacle  after  another  was  cleared  from 
the  earl's  path.  His  brother  Tostig  had  become  his 
most  dangerous  rival ;  but  a  revolt  of  the  Northum- 
brians drove  Tostig  to  Flanders,  and  the  earl  was 
able  to  win  over  the  Mercian  house  of  Leofric  to  his 
cause  by  owning  Morkere,  the  brother  of  the  Mer- 
cian earl,  Eadwine,  as  his  brother's  successor.  His 
aim  was,  in  fact,  attained  without  a  struggle.  In  the 
opening  of  1066  the  nobles  and  bishops  who  gathered 
round  the  death-bed  of  the  Confessor  passed  quietly 
from  it  to  the  election  and  coronation  of  Harold. 
But  at  Rouen  the  news  was  welcomed  with  a  burst 
of  furious  passion,  and  the  Duke  of  Normandy  at 
once  prepared  to  enforce  his  claim  by  arms.  Will- 
iam did  not  claim  the  crown.  He  claimed  simply 
the  right,  which  he  afterwards  used  when  his  sword 
had  won  it,  of  presenting  himself  for  election  by  the 
nation,  and  he  believed  himself  entitled  so  to  pre- 
sent himself  by  the  direct  commendation  of  the 
Confessor.  The  actual  election  of  Harold,  which 
stood  in  his  way,  hurried  as  it  was,  he  did  not  recog- 
nize as  valid.  But  with  this  constitutional  claim 
was  inextricably  mingled  resentment  at  the  private 
wrong  which  Harold  had  done  him,  and  a  resolve 
to  exact  vengeance  on  the  man  whom  he  regarded 


caS  the  conquest  of  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  as  untrue  to  his  oath.  The  difficulties  in  the  way 
The     of  his  enterprise  were  indeed  enormous.     He  could 

c^nqueft.  reckon   on  no  support  within   England  itself.     At 

1053T071  home  he  had  to  extort  the  consent  of  his  own  re- 
—  luctant  baronage;  to  gather  a  motley  host  from 
every  quarter  of  France  and  to  keep  it  together  for 
months  ;  to  create  a  fleet,  to  cut  down  the  very  trees, 
to  build,  to  launch,  to  man  the  vessels ;  and  to  find 
time  amidst  all  this  for  the  common  business  of  gov- 
ernment, for  negotiations  with  Denmark  and  the 
Empire,  with  France,  Brittany,  and  Anjou,  with 
Flanders  and  with  Rome,  which  had  been  estranged 
from  England  by  Archbishop  Stigand's  acceptance 
of  his  pallium  from  one  who  was  not  owned  as  a 
canonical  pope. 

'^BnwZ'^  But  his  rival's  difficulties  were  hardly  less  than 
his  own.  Harold  was  threatened  with  invasion  not 
only  by  WijVam,  but  by  his  brother  Tostig,  who  had 
taken  refuge  in  Norway  and  secured  the  aid  of  its 
king,  Harald  Hardrada.  The  fleet  and  army  he  had 
gathered  lay  watching  for  months  along  the  coast. 
His  one  standing  force  was  his  body  of  huscarls, 
but  their  numbers  only  enabled  them  to  act  as  the 
nucleus  of  an  army.  On  the  other  .hand,  the  land- 
fyrd,  or  general  levy  of  fighting-men,  was  a  body 
easy  to  raise  for  any  single  encounter,  but  hard  to 
keep  together.  To  assemble  such  a  force  was  to 
bring  labor  to  a  standstill.  The  men  gathered  under 
the  king's  standard  were  the  farmers  and  ploughmen 
of  their  fields.  The  ships  were  the  fishing-vessels 
of  the  coast.  In  September  the  task  of  holding 
them  together  became  impossible ;  but  their  disper- 
sion had  hardly  taken  place  when  the  two  clouds, 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


549 


which  had  so  long  been  gathering,  burst  at  once  chap,  xr. 
upon  the  realm.    A  change  of  wind  released  the  land-     The 
locked  armament  of  William ;  but  before  changing,  conqueS. 
the  wind  which  prisoned  the  duke  brought  the  host  1053I1071. 
of  Tostig  and   Harald   Hardrada  to   the  coast   of     — 
Yorkshire.     The  king  hastened  with  his  household 
troops  to  the  north,  and  repulsed  the  Norwegians  in 
a  decisive  overthrow  at  Stamford  Bridge,  but  ere  he 
could  hurry  back  to  London  the  Norman  host  had 
crossed  the  sea,  and  William,  who  had  anchored  on 
the  28th  of  September  off  Pevensey,  was  ravaging 
the  coast  to  bring  his  rival  to  an  engagement.     His 
merciless  ravages  succeeded  in  drawing  Harold  from 
London  to  the  south  ;  but  the  king  wisely  refused  to 
attack  with  the  troops  he  had  hastily  summoned  to 
his  banner.     If  he  was  forced  to  give  battle  he  re- 
solved to  give  it  on  ground  he  had  himself  chosen, 
and  advancing  near  enough  to  the  coast  to  check 
William's  ravages,  he  intrenched  himself  on  a  hill, 
known  afterwards  as  that  of  Senlac,  a  low  spur  of 
the   Sussex  Downs  near  Hastings.      His  position 
covered  London  and  drove  W^illiam  to  concentrate 
his  forces.     With  a  host  subsisting  by  pillage,  to 
concentrate  is  to  starve ;  and  no  alternative  was  left 
to  the  duke  but  a  decisive  victory  or  ruin. 

On  the  fourteenth  of  October  William  led  his  men  Battk  of 
at  dawn  along  the  higher  ground  that  leads  from  ''  '''' ' 
Hastings  to  the  battle-field  which  Harold  had  chosen. 
From  the  mound  of  Telham  the  Normans  saw  the 
host  of  the  English  gathered  thickly  behind  a  rough 
trench  and  a  stockade  on  the  height  of  Senlac. 
Marshy  ground  covered  their  right ;  on  the  left,  the 
most  exposed  part  of  the  position,  the  huscarls  or 


ccQ  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  bodyguard  of  Harold,  men  in  full  armor  and  wleld- 
The  ing  huge  axes,  were  grouped  round  the  Golden 
SeTt.  Dragon  of  Wessex  and  the  standard  of  the  king, 
rr:  The  rest  of  the  ground  was  covered  by  thick  masses 
—  of  half-armed  rustics  who  had  flocked  at  Harold's 
summons  to  the  fight  with  the  stranger.  It  was 
against  the  centre  of  this  formidable  position  that 
William  arrayed  his  Norman  knighthood,  while  the 
mercenary  forces  he  had  gathered  in  France  and 
Brittany  were  ordered  to  attack  its  flanks.  A  general 
charge  of  the  Norman  foot  opened  the  battle  ;  in 
front  rode  the  minstrel,  Taillefer,  tossing  his  sword 
in  the  air  and  catching  it  again  while  he  chanted  the 
song  of  Roland.  He  was  the  first  of  the  host  who 
struck  a  blow,  and  he  was  the  first  to  fall.  The 
charge  broke  vainly  on  the  stout  stockade  behind 
which  the  English  warriors  plied  axe  and  javelin 
with  fierce  cries  of  "  Out,  out,"  and  the  repulse  of  the 
Norman  footmen  was  followed  by  a  repulse  of  the 
Norman  horse.  Again  and  again  the  duke  rallied 
and  led  them  to  the  fatal  stockade.  All  the  fury 
of  fight  that  glowed  in  his  Norseman's  blood,  all  the 
headlong  valor  that  spurred  him  over  the  slopes  of 
Val-es-Dunes,  mingled  that  day  with  the  coolness 
of  head,  the  dogged  perseverance,  the  inexhaustible 
faculty  of  resource,  which  shone  at  Mortemer  and 
Varaville.  His  Breton  troops,  entangled  in  the 
marshy  ground  on  his  left,  broke  in  disorder,  and  as 
panic  spread  through  the  army  a  cry  arose  that  the 
duke  was  slain.  William  tore  off  his  helmet;  "I 
live,"  he  shouted,  "  and  by  God's  help  I  will  conquer 
yet."  Maddened  by  a  fresh  repulse,  the  duke  spurred 
right  at  the  standard ;  unhorsed,  his  terrible  mace 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.  jji 

struck  down  Gyrth,  the  king's  brother ;  again  dis-  chap,  xi. 
mounted,  a  blow  from  his  hand  hurled  to  the  ground     The 
an  unmannerly  rider  who  would  not  lend  him  his  conquest, 
steed.     Amidst  the  roar  and  tumult  of  the  battle  ^Qg^Yi 
he  turned  the  flight  he  had  arrested  into  the  means     — 
of  victory.     Broken  as  the  stockade  was  by  his  des- 
perate onset,  the  shield-wall  of  the  warriors  behind 
it  still  held  the  Normans  at  bay,  till  William  by  a 
feint  of  flight  drew  a  part  of  the  English  force  from 
their  post  of  vantage.     Turning  on  his  disorderly 
pursuers,  the  duke  cut  them  to  pieces,  broke  through 
the  abandoned  line,  and  made  himself  master  of  the 
central  ground.      Meanwhile  the  French  and  Bre- 
tons made  good  their  ascent  on  either  flank.     At 
three  the  hill  seemed  won,  at  six  the  fight  still  raged 
around  the  standard,  where  Harold's  huscarls  stood 
stubbornly  at  bay  on  a  spot  marked  afterwards  by 
the  high  altar  of  Battle  Abbey.     An  order  from  the 
duke  at  last  brought  his  archers  to  the  front.    Their 
arrow-flight  told  heavily  on  the  dense  masses  crowd- 
ed around  the  king,  and  as  the  sun  went  down  a 
shaft  pierced  Harold's  right  eye.     He  fell  between 
the  royal  ensigns,  and  the  battle  closed  with  a  des- 
perate melee  over  his  corpse. 

Night  covered  the  flight  of  the  English  army :  Coronation 
but  William  was  quick  to  reap  the  advantage  of  his  wuiiam. 
victory.  Securing  Romney  and  Dover,  he  marched 
by  Canterbury  upon  London.  Faction  and  intrigue 
were  doing  his  work  for  him  as  he  advanced ;  for 
Harold's  brothers  had  fallen  with  the  king  on  the 
field  of  Senlac,  and  there  was  none  of  the  house  of 
Godwine  to  contest  the  crown.  Of  the  old  royal 
hne  there  remained  but  a  single  boy,  Eadgar  the 


CC2  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  y^theling.  He  was  chosen  king ;  but  the  choice 
Th^  gave  little  strength  to  the  national  cause.  The 
craquest  widow  of  the  Confessor  surrendered  Winchester  to 
1053T071.  ^h^  ^^^^-  ^^^  bishops  gathered  at  London  inclined 
—  to  submission.  The  citizens  themselves  faltered  as 
William,  passing  by  their  walls,  gave  Southwark  to 
the  flames.  The  throne  of  the  boy-king  really  rest- 
ed for  support  on  the  earls  of  Mercia  and  Northum- 
bria,  Eadwine  and  Morkere ;  and  William,  crossing 
the  Thames  at  Wallingford  and  marching  into  Hert- 
fordshire, threatened  to  cut  them  off  from  their  earl- 
doms. The  masterly  movement  forced  the  earls  to 
hurry  home,  and  London  gave  way  at  once.  Ead- 
gar  himself  was  at  the  head  of  the  deputation  who 
came  to  offer  the  crown  to  the  Norman  duke.  "  They 
bowed  to  him,"  says  the  English  annalist,  pathetically, 
"for  need."  They  bowed  to  the  Norman  as  they 
had  bowed  to  the  Dane,  and  William  accepted  the 
crown  in  the  spirit  of  Cnut.  London,  indeed,  was 
secured  by  the  erection  of  a  fortress  which  after- 
wards grew  into  the  Tower,  but  William  desired  to 
reign  not  as  a  conqueror,  but  as  a  lawful  king.  At 
Christmas  he  received  the  crown,  at  Westminster, 
from  the  hands  of  Archbishop  Ealdred  amid  shouts 
of  "  Yea,  yea,"  from  his  new  English  subjects.  Fines 
from  the  greater  landowners  atoned  for  a  resistance 
which  now  counted  as  rebellion ;  but  with  this  ex- 
ception every  measure  of  the  new  sovereign  showed 
his  desire  of  ruling  as  a  successor  of  Eadward  or 
Alfred.  As  yet,  indeed,  the  greater  part  of  Eng- 
land remained  quietly  aloof  from  him,  and  he  can 
hardly  be  said  to  have  been  recognized  as  king  by 
Northumberland  or  the  greater  part  of  Mercia.    But 


THE  CONQUEST  OF   ENGLAND.  553 

to  the  east  of  a  line  which  stretched  from  Norwich  char  xr. 
to  Dorsetshire  his  rule  was  unquestioned,  and  over  The 
this  portion  he  ruled  as  an  English  king.  His  sol-  conquest 
diers  were  kept  in  strict  order.  No  change  was^Qg^^^ 
made  in  law  or  custom.  The  privileges  of  London  — 
were  recognized  by  a  royal  writ  which  still  remains, 
the  most  venerable  of  its  muniments,  among  the 
city's  archives.  Peace  and  order  were  restored. 
William  even  attempted,  though  in  vain,  to  learn 
the  English  tongue,  that  he  might  personally  admin- 
ister justice  to  the  suitors  in  his  court.  The  king- 
dom seemed  so  tranquil  that  only  a  few  months 
had  passed  after  the  battle  of  Senlac  when,  leaving 
England  in  charge  of  his  brother,  Odo,  Bishop  of 
Bayeux,  and  his  minister,  William  Fitz-Osbern,  the 
king  returned,  in  1097,  ^^^  ^  while  to  Normandy. 
The  peace  he  left  was  soon,  indeed,  disturbed.  Bish- 
op Odo's  tyranny  forced  the  Kentishmen  to  seek 
aid  from  Count  Eustace  of  Boulogne  ;  while  the 
Welsh  princes  supported  a  similar  rising  against 
Norman  oppression  in  the  west.  But,  as  yet,  the 
bulk  of  the  land  held  fairly  to  the  new  king.  Dover 
was  saved  from  Eustace ;  and  the  discontented  fled 
over  sea,  to  seek  refuge  in  lands  as  far  off  as  Con- 
stantinople, where  Englishmen  from  this  time  formed 
great  part  of  the  bodyguard  or  Varangians  of  the 
eastern  emperors.  William  returned  to  take  his 
place  again  as  an  English  king.  It  was  with  an 
English  force  that  he  subdued  a  rising  in  the  south- 
west with  Exeter  at  its  head,  and  it  was  at  the  head 
of  an  English  army  that  he  completed  his  work  by 
marching  to  the  north.  His  march  brought  Ead- 
wine  and  Morkere  again  to  submission ;  a  fresh  ris- 


CCA  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  ing  ended  in  the  occupation  of  York,  and  England 

The     as  far  as  the  Tees  lay  quietly  at  William's  feet, 
conquest      It  was,  in  fact,  only  the  national  revolt  of  1068  that 
1053T071  transformed  the  king  into  a  conqueror.     The  signal 
—     for  the  revolt  came  from  Swein,  King;  of  Denmark, 

The 

Norman  who  had  for  two  ycars  past  been  preparing  to  dis- 
Couquest.  ^^^^  England  with  the  Norman,  but  on  the  appear- 
ance of  his  fleet  in  the  Humber  all  northern,  all 
western  and  southwestern  England,  rose  as  one 
man.  Eadgar  the  i^theling,  with  a  band  of  exiles 
who  had  found  refuge  in  Scotland,  took  the  head  of 
the  Northumbrian  revolt ;  in  the  southwest  the  men 
of  Devon,  Somerset,  and  Dorset  gathered  to  the 
sieges  of  Exeter  and  Montacute ;  while  a  new  Nor- 
man castle  at  Shrewsbury  alone  bridled  a  rising  in 
the  west.  So  ably  had  the  revolt  been  planned  that 
even  William  was  taken  by  surprise.  The  out- 
break was  heralded  by  a  storm  of  York  and  the 
slaughter  of  three  thousand  Normans  who  formed 
its  garrison.  The  news  of  its  slaughter  reached 
WilHam  as  he  was  hunting  in  the  forest  of  Dean; 
and  in  a  wild  outburst  of  wrath  he  swore  "  by  the 
splendor  of  God"  to  avenge  himself  on  the  north. 
But  wrath  went  hand  in  hand  w^ith  the  coolest  states- 
manship. The  centre  of  resistance  lay  in  the  Dan- 
ish fleet,  and,  pushing  rapidly  to  the  Humber  with  a 
handful  of  horsemen,  William  bought,  at  a  heavy 
price,  its  inactivity  and  withdrawal.  Then,  turning 
westward  with  the  troops  that  gathered  round  him, 
he  swept  the  Welsh  border  and  relieved  Shrews- 
bury, while  William  Fitz-Osbern  broke  the  rising 
around  Exeter.  His  success  set  the  king  free  to 
fulfil  his  oath  of  vengeance  on  the  north.     After 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       5^5 

a  long  delay  before  the  flooded  waters  of  the  Aire,  char  xr. 
he  entered  York  and  ravaged  the  whole  country  as  The 
far  as  the  Tees.  Town  and  village  were  harried  conquest, 
and  burned,  their  inhabitants  were  slain  or  driven  ^qq^yi 
over  the  Scottish  border.  The  coast  was  especially 
wasted  that  no  hold  might  remain  for  future  land- 
ings of  the  Danes.  Crops,  cattle,  the  very  imple- 
ments of  husbandry,  were  so  mercilessly  destroyed 
that  a  famine  which  followed  is  said  to  have  swept 
off  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  victims.  Half  a 
century  later,  indeed,  the  land  still  lay  bare  of  cult- 
ure and  deserted  of  men  for  sixty  miles  northward 
of  York.  The  work  of  vengeance  once  over,  Will- 
iam led  his  army  back  from  the  Tees  to  York,  and 
thence  to  Chester  and  the  west.  Never  had  he 
shown  the  grandeur  of  his  character  so  memorably 
as  in  this  terrible  march.  The  winter  was  hard,  the 
roads  choked  with  snow-drifts  or  broken  by  torrents, 
provisions  failed;  and  his  army,  storm-beaten  and 
forced  to  devour  its  horses  for  food,  broke  out  into 
mutiny  at  the  order  to  cross  the  bleak  moorlands 
that  part  Yorkshire  from  the  west.  The  merce- 
naries from  Anjou  and  Brittany  demanded  their  re- 
lease from  service.  William  granted  their  prayer 
with  scorn.  On  foot,  at  the  head  of  the  troops  which 
still  clung  to  him,  he  forced  his  way  by  paths  inac- 
cessible to  horses,  often  helping  the  men  with  his 
own  hands  to  clear  the  road,  and  as  the  army  de- 
scended upon  Chester  the  resistance  of  the  English 
died  away. 

For  two  years  William  was  able  to  busy  himself      its 
in  castle-building  and  in  measures  for  holding  down 
the  conquered  land.     How  effective  these  were  was 


^cS  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XL  seen  when  the  last  act  of  the  conquest  was  reached. 
The     All  hope  of  Danish  aid  was  now  gone,  but  English- 
conquest  rnen  still  looked  for  help  to  Scotland,  where  Eadgar 
1053T071  ^^^  ^theling  had  again  found  refuge,  and  where  his 
—     sister  Margaret  had  become  wife  of  King  Malcolm. 
It  was  probably  some  assurance  of  Malcolm's  aid 
which  roused  the  Mercian  earls,  Eadwine  and  Mor- 
kere,  to  a  fresh  rising  in  107 1.     But  the  revolt  was 
at  once  foiled  by  the  vigilance  of  the  Conqueror. 
Eadwine  fell  in  an  obscure  skirmish,  while  Morkere 
found  shelter  for  a  while  in  the  fen  country,  where  a 
desperate  band  of  patriots  gathered  round  an  out- 
lawed  leader,  Hereward.      Nowhere   had   William 
found  so  stubborn  a  resistance :  but  a  causeway  two 
miles  long  was  at  last  driven  across  the  marshes, 
and  the  last  hopes  of  English  freedom  died  in  the 
surrender  of  Ely.     It  was  as  the  unquestioned  mas- 
ter of  England  that  William  marched  to  the  north, 
crossed  the  Lowlands  and  the  Forth,  and  saw  Mal- 
colm appear  in  his  camp  upon  the  Tay  to  swear 
fealty  at  his  feet. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


557 


CHAP.  XI. 

The 
Norman 
Conquest. 

1053-1071. 

{Unfinished  Notes  on  Archbishop  Stigand.)  ST" 

At  the  head  of  the  English  Church,  in  name  at  least,  stood  Stigand 
of  Canterbury,  We  have  seen  the  political  importance  of  his  eleva- 
tion and  the  disappointment  of  the  hopes  embodied  in  it ;  but  he 
represented  in  its  highest  form  the  principle  of  the  house  of  God- 
wine,  whose  chaplain  and  negotiator  he  had  been,  and  illustrates 
the  conception  of  a  High  Churchman  which  that  house  entertained. 
His  beginning  had  been  strangely  picturesque.  On  the  site  of  his 
great  victory  at  Assandun,  Cnut  reared,  in  1020,  a  minster  of  stone, 
a  rare  sight  in  that  country  of  timber  and  brick,  and  set  Stigand 
there  as  its  priest.  Mr.  Freeman  and  Mr.  St.  John  assume  this  Sti- 
gand to  be  "no  other  than  the  famous  archbishop.  Stigand  the 
Priest  signs  charters  of  Cnut  in  1033  and  1035,  and  one  without 
date,  and  one  of  Harthacnut  in  1042  (Cod.  Dip.  iv.  46;  vi.  185,  187 ; 
iv.  65).  He  seems  to  be  the  only  person  of  the  name  who  signs  " 
(Freeman,  Norm.  Conq.  i.  424,  note  4).  He  remained  steadfast  to  the 
cause  of  the  Danish  house.  He  was  chaplain  to  Harald  Harefoot 
(Flor.  Wore,  Thorpe,  i.  193)  as  he  had  been  to  Cnut  (Freeman,  Norm. 
Conq.  i.  425),  and  afterwards  the  nearest  friend  and  adviser  of  Cnut's 
widow  (Eng.  Chron.,  Abingdon,  1043).  Although  it  is  said  that  in 
1038  he  was  nominated  to  a  bishopric,  yet  he  was  deposed  before 
consecration  for  lack  of  money  to  outbid  his  rivals  for  the  office. 
(The  story  is  only  given  by  Flor.  Wore,  Thorpe,  i.  193.  He  signs  as 
bishop  in  Cod.  Dip.  787.  For  date,  see  Freeman,  Norm.  Conq.  ii.  64, 
note.)  At  the  accession  of  Eadward,  however,  and  possibly  as  a 
part  of  the  price  which  the  new  king  paid  for  his  crown,  he  was 
named  and  consecrated  to  the  bishopric  of  Elmham  in  the  Easter 
Gemot  of  1043.  But,  before  the  year  was  over,  it  would  seem  that 
some  suspicion  of  political  intrigues,  carried  on  by  him  through  the 
Lady  Emma,  had  been  awakened  in  men's  minds.  The  seizure  of 
the  lands  and  treasures  of  Emma  into  the  king's  hands,  by  decree 
of  the  Gemot,  was  followed  by  the  deposition  of  Stigand  from  his 
seat,  and  the  confiscation  of  his  goods  by  the  counsel  of  the  same 
Gemot,  which,  doubtless,  held  him  guilty  of  a  share  in  the  crimes 
of  Emma  (Eng.  Chron.,  Abingdon,  1043).  "That  Stigand  should 
have  supported  the  claims  of  Swegen  is,  in  itself,  not  improbable. 
He  had  risen  wholly  through  the  favor  of  Cnut,  his  wife,  and  his 
sons  "  (Freeman,  Norm.  Conq.  ii.  65).     In  the  following  year,  how- 


rcS  THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  ever,  Stigand  had  made  his  peace  with  Godwine  and  Eadward,  and 

—  was  again  Bishop  of  Elmham  (Flor.  Wore,  Thorpe,  i.  199) ;  and 

■w^^^  «    three  years  later,  1047,  rose  to  the  see  of  Winchester.     His  services 
Norman  -^  .       ^    ,    .     .  .,.     .  1    ,  • 

Conquest,  in  securing  Godwine's  reconcihation  made  him  primate  in  1052,  and 

—  from  this  time  till  after  the  Conquest  he  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
1053-1071.  English  Church.     He  was  not,  however,  satisfied  with  the  wealth  of 

Notes.     Canterbury ;  as  he  had  promoted  his  brother,  ^thelmaer,  to  Elm- 

—  ham  when  he  went  to  Winchester,  so  on  going  to  Canterbury  he 
retained  his  rich  see  of  Winchester — "  praeterea  multas  abbatias  " 
(Will.  Malm.,  Gest.  Pontif.,  Hamilton,  p.  36).  Of  the  "treasures  of 
gold  and  silver"  which  he  was  said  to  have  carried  off,  even  to  his 
prison  (Angl.  Sacr.  i.  250),  Winchester  preserved  a  big  silver  cross, 
with  two  images,  which  were  found  in  his  treasury. 

But  though  Stigand  might  sit  at  Canterbury,  none  held  him  for 
archbishop.  To  the  Abingdon  chronicler  in  1053,  a  year  after  his 
elevation,  he  was  still  "  Stigand  bishop,"  though  he  "  held  the  bish- 
opric at  Canterbury."  In  the  same  year  bishops  Leofwine  of  Lich- 
field and  Wulfwig  of  Dorchester  fared  over  sea  for  consecration 
rather  than  ask  for  it  from  him  (Eng.  Chron.,  Abingdon,  1053). 
Robert,  deposed  by  the  Witan,  fled  to  tell  his  tale  at  Rome ;  and  Leo 
IX.  was  not  likely  to  hold  the  deposition  a  valid  one,  nor,  seemingly, 
did  his  successors,  Victor  II.  and  Stephen  IX.  For  six  years  Sti- 
gand remained  an  archbishop  without  a  pallium,  driven,  as  the 
story  of  his  enemies  ran,  to  use  the  pallium  of  the  Norman  Robert, 
whose  place  he  had  usurped.  At  last,  in  1058,  Stigand  found  means 
to  get  his  pallium  from  the  anti-pope  Benedict.  Such  a  step,  how- 
ever, really  increased  his  difficulties.  It  enabled  him,  indeed,  for  the 
first  and  last  time,  to  hallow  bishops — ^thelric  of  Selsey  and  Siward 
of  Rochester:  but  it  soon  made  matters  worse.  Benedict  was  driv- 
en from  the  Papal  see  in  1059;  and  his  successors,  Nicolas  II.  and 
Alexander  II.,  with  the  deacon  Hildebrand  behind  them,  were  only 
forced  into  a  position  of  hostility,  which  was  made  the  more  irrec- 
oncilable from  the  bitter  strife  in  which  the  Papacy  was  then  en- 
gaged with  the  emperor.  Nor  was  the  answer  given  by  England  to 
such  a  step  on  Stigand's  part  encouraging.  So  doubtful  was  his 
position  still  held  to  be,  that  in  May,  1060,  a  year  after  Benedict  was 
driven  out,  Harold  himself  had  Waltham  hallowed  by  Archbishop 
Cynesige.  The  general  drift  of  feeling,  too,  was  shown  in  the  jour- 
ney of  Walter,  the  Lotharingian  bishop  of  Hereford,  and  Gisa  of 
Wells,  to  Rome  itself  in  April,  1061,  for  consecration  from  the  very 
pope,  Nicolas,  who  had  been  defied  by  Stigand's  act;  and  by  Ealdred, 
the  Archbishop  of  York,  also  seeking  his  pallium  at  Rome,  in  the 
same  year,  accompanied  by  two  sons  of  Godwine— Tostig  and  Gyrth. 
In  fact,  the  very  house  of  Godwine  found  itself  unable  to  withstand 
the  force  of  public  feeling.    The  visit  of  Tostig  and  Gyrth  to  Pope 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^59 

Nicolas,  in  1061,  pointed  to  a  reconciliation  with  Nicolas;  and  as  to  chap.  xr. 
the  feeling  of  the  king,  Gisa  himself  tells  us  that  it  was  Eadward       ~~~ 
that  sent  him  to  Rome  and  to  Nicolas.     ("  Romam  direxit,  et  a  Ni-   jj-Qj-man 
colao  Papa  ordinatum  .  .  .  honorifice  recepit." — Hunter,  Eccl.  Doc.  conquest, 
p.  16.)  — 

But  a  yet  harder  blow  at  Stigand's  authority  was  to  follow  in  the       

next  year,  dealt  by  the  hands  of  Wulfstan.  It  is  possible  that  the  Notes. 
Papal  legates  who  were  sent  to  England  in  1062  by  the  successor  of  — 
Nicolas,  Alexander  H.,  brought  a  distinct  and  fresh  sentence  against 
Stigand.  (Cf.  the  terms  of  Wulfstan's  profession. — Freeman,  Norm. 
Conq.  ii.  note  cc.)  They  were  received  by  the  Archbishop  of  York, 
who  took  them  over  England,  and  they  were  quartered  at  Worces- 
ter in  charge  of  Prior  Wulfstan  (Flor.  Wore,  Thorpe,  i.  220). 
Their  reception  in  the  realm  and  in  the  Gemot  at  Worcester,  and 
their  influence  in  raising  Wulfstan  to  the  see  of  Worcester  (which 
quite  goes  with  his  language  about  Stigand),  secured  England  for 
the  Papacy  and  made  the  archbishop's  position  untenable.  Wulf- 
stan's consecration,  indeed,  by  Ealdred,  in  September,  1062,  was  the 
most  public  and  decisive  repudiation  of  Stigand  that  had  been  made. 
The  words  of  his  profession  (only  printed  in  Freeman,  Norm.  Conq. 
ii.  note  cc)  are,  "Quo  tempore  ego  Wulstanus  ad  Wigorniensem 
Wicciorum  urbem  sum  ordinatus  episcopus,  sanctam  Dorobernen- 
sem  ecclesiam  cui  omnes  antecessores  meos  constat  fuisse  subjectos, 
Stigandus  jampridem  invaserat,  metropolitanum  ejusdem  sedis  vi  et 
dolo  expulerat,  usumque  pallii  quod  ei  abstulit  contempta  apostolicae 
sedis  auctoritate  temerare  praesumpserat.  Unde  a  Romatiis  Poiiti- 
ficibus  Leone,  Vic  tore,  Stephano,  Nicolao,  Alexandro,  vocatus,  excom- 
municatiis,  dainnatus  est.  Ipse  tamen  ut  coepit,  in  sui  cordis  obsti- 
natione  permansit.  Per  idem  tempus  jussa  eorum  Pontificum  in 
Anglicam  terram  delata  sunt  prohibentium  ne  quis  ei  episcopalem 
reverentiam  exhiberet,  aut  ad  eum  ordinandus  accederet.  Quo  tem- 
pore Anglorum  praesules,  alii  Romam,  nonnulli  Franciam  sacrandi 
petebant;  quidam  vero  ad  vicinos  coepiscopos  accedebant.  Ego 
autem  Alredum  Eboracensis  ecclesiae  antistitem  adii ;  professionem 
tamen  de  canonica  obedientia  usque  ad  praesentem  diem  facere  di- 
stuli."  The  "  perjuriis  et  homicidiis  inquinatus,"  in  Orderic's  de- 
scription of  Stigand's  deposition  (Ord.  Vit.,  Duchesne,  516  B),  may 
mean  the  bloodshed,  etc.,  at  the  Gemot  of  1052  ;  but  the  "  perjuriis  " 
must  go  with  the  "  dolo  "  of  Wulfstan.  None  would  have  him.  He 
did  not  consecrate  Westminster.  Harold,  in  later  days,  chose  Eal- 
dred to  hallow  him  as  king.  Stigand,  indeed,  stood  with  Harold 
beside  the  bed  of  the  dying  Eadward  ;  but  it  was  only  to  hear  him- 
self denounced  as  Eadward  predicted  the  coming  woe.  "  Cognosce- 
bant  enim  per  sacri  ordinis  personas  Christian!  cultus  religionem 
maxime  violatam,  hocque  frequentius  declamasse  tum  per  legatos  et 


25o       THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

CHAP.  XI.  epistolas  suas  Romanum  Papam,  turn  in  frequentibus  monitis  ipsum 

—  regem  et  reginam :  sed  divitiis  et  mundana  gloria  irrecuperabiliter 
Norman   q^idam  diabolo  allecti,  vitae  adeo  neglexerant  disciplinam  ut  non 

Conquest,  horrerent  jam  tunc  imminentem  incidere  in  Dei  iram  "  (Vita  Edw., 

—  Luard,  pp.  431,  432).     "Cunctisque  stupentibus  et  terrore  agente 
1053-1071.  tacentibus,  ipse  archiepiscopus  qui  debuerat  vel  primus  pavere,  vel 

Notes,     verbum  consilii  dare,  infatuate  corde  submurmurat  in  aurem  ducis, 

—  senio  confectum  et  morbo,  quid  diceret  nescire  "  (Ibid.  p.  431).  The 
"divitiis"  above  points  to  the  ground  which  common  rumor  as- 
signed for  Stigand's  obstinacy. 

His  presence  with  the  earl  at  the  king's  bedside  only  shows  that 
Harold  was  still  driven  to  cling  to  him,  though  he,  with  all  England, 
held  him  to  possess  no  spiritual  power. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       561 


CHAP.  xr. 


The 

(/  have  reprinted,  from   an  article  written  by  Mr.  Green   in  the   Norman 
Saturday  Review  for  August  22,   1868,  the  following           onque 
passages  which  deal  with  the  character  of  Harold,               1053-1071. 
and,  in  the  scarcity  of  materials,  furnish  sotne                        ,~' 
commejitary  on  the  text. — A.  S.  G.)  ' 

"The  death  of  Godwine  in  the  very  hour  of  his  triumph  be- 
queathed the  direction  of  English  affairs  to  his  son,  Earl  Harold. 
It  is  the  special  merit  of  Mr.  Freeman's  elaborate  researches  into 
the  later  history  of  Eadward's  reign  that  they  bring  home  to  us  the 
fact  that  the  man,  who  in  common  narratives  starts  into  rule  for  a 
single  year  by  his  seizure  of  the  Crown,  had  in  reality  been  the 
ruler  of  England  for  twelve  years  before.  The  coronation  of  Har- 
old was,  as  he  fairly  puts  it,  the  natural  climax  of  the  life  of  one 
who  at  twenty-four  years  old  "  was  invested  with  the  rule  of  one  of 
the  great  divisions  of  England  ;  who  seven  years  later  became  the 
virtual  ruler  of  the  kingdom ;  who  at  last,  twenty-one  years  from 
his  first  elevation,  received,  alone  among  English  kings,  the  crown 
of  England  as  the  free  gift  of  her  people."  The  obvious  lesson  of 
all  this  is  that  Harold  can  no  longer  be  judged  from  the  single 
stand-point  of  Senlac.  The  year  of  his  great  close  is  simply  the 
last  of  an  administration  which  extended  over  thirteen  years;  and 
it  is  the  general  tenor  of  that  administration,  rather  than  of  any 
isolated  events  in  it,  that  must  really  give  us  the  measure  of  Harold. 
He  came  to  power,  it  must  be  remembered,  unfettered  by  many  of 
the  obstacles  that  had  beset  his  father.  The  revolution  which  had 
restored  his  house  had  freed  him  from  the  internal  rivalry  of  a 
foreign  party  at  the  court.  The  defeat  of  Macbeth  and  the  eleva- 
tion of  a  nominee  of  England  to  the  Scottish  throne  removed  all 
danger  from  the  north.  If  any  fears  of  a  Danish  reaction  still  lin- 
gered, they  must  have  been  removed  by  the  death  of  Osgod  Clapa. 
Siward  and  Leofric,  the  two  formidable  counterpoises  to  the  power 
of  his  house,  passed  away  in  the  first  years  of  his  rule.  Godwine 
had  carried  with  him  to  his  grave  a  thousand  party  resentments, 
gathered  along  a  tortuous  course  of  political  intrigue.  The  one 
great  moral  obstacle  that  stood  between  England  and  his  family 
had  died  with  Swein.  None  of  the  jealousy  which  Eadward  dis- 
played towards  the  supremacy  of  his  first  minister  seems  to  have 
displayed  itself  towards  his  second.  For  twelve  years  he  was  the 
undisputed  governor  of  the  realm.  And  this  political  supremacy 
was  backed  by  high  personal  qualities.  .  .  .  The  character  of  the 
earl,  however,  remains  singularly  obscure.  The  very  nature  of  his 
administration  itself,  during  the  greater  part  of  it,  is  dark  and  mys- 

36 


562 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND. 


CHAP.  XL  terious.     The  three  last  years  of  it,  indeed,  are  memorable  enough 

- —       —the  years  of  the  Welsh  campaign,  the  expulsion  of  Tostig,  the 

„^^^       accession  to  the  Crown ;  but  the  ten  that  precede  them  defy  even 

Conquers!  the  industry  of  Mr.  Freeman With  the  exception  of  his  doubt- 

—  ful  voyage  through  France,  it  is  notable  that  throughout  the  rule 
1053-1071.  ^f  Harold  England  is  without  any  foreign  relations  whatever ;  for 

Notes,     the  embassy  to  the  Imperial  Court  in   1054  had  a  simply  domestic 

—  purpose,  and  the  nomination  of  a  few  Lotharingian  bishops  does 
not  affect  the  really  insular  nature  of  his  policy.  Nor  is  this  ab- 
sence of  outer  relations  compensated  by  any  internal  activity.  Mr. 
Freeman  marks,  indeed,  the  predominance  of  ecclesiastical  admin- 
istration as  the  characteristic  of  this  earlier  period  of  Harold's  rule ; 
but  when  we  look  closer  into  the  mass  of  details,  there  is  simply  no 
ecclesiastical  administration  whatever,  no  conspicuous  synod,  no 
great  Church  reform — nothing,  in  a  word,  but  the  appointment  of  a 
few  prelates  in  the  place  of  others,  the  attempted  introduction  of 
the  rule  of  Chrodegang,  and,  so  far  as  Harold  himself  is  concerned, 
the  foundation  of  a  single  religious  house.  ...  In  his  civil  adminis- 
tration, as  in  his  foreign  and  ecclesiastical,  it  is  difficult  to  grasp 
any  new  or  large  conception  in  the  mind  of  Harold,  such  as  those 
which  lift  his  Norman  rival  into  greatness.  Take  him  at  his  best, 
there  is  little  more  than  a  sort  of  moral  conservatism,  without  a 
trace  of  genius  or  originality,  or  even  any  attempt  at  high  states- 
manship. Take  him  at  his  worst,  and  we  can  hardly  fail  to  see  a 
certain  cunning  and  subtlety  of  temper  that  often  coexists  with 
mediocrity  of  intellectual  gifts.  In  the  internal  government  of  the 
realm  he  simply  follows  out  his  father's  policy,  while  avoiding  his 
father's  excesses.  For  one  great  political  scandal  he  is  solely  re- 
sponsible. It  may  not  have  been  with  a  deliberate  purpose  of  neu- 
tralizing the  great  constitutional  check  on  an  English  king  that  he 
allowed  the  highest  dignity  of  the  English  Church  to  remain 
throughout  his  rule  in  a  state  of  suspension.  But  if  we  acquit  him 
of  a  purpose  which  would  be  a  crime,  it  can  only  be  on  the  plea  of 
an  indifference  to  the  true  relations  of  the  State  which  was  even 
worse  than  a  crime.  In  all  other  respects  his  civil  administration 
during  his  first  ten  years  of  rule  is  the  mere  continuation  of  his 
father's.  There  is  the  same  scheme  of  family  aggrandizement, 
carried  out  in  even  a  less  scrupulous  way.  To  gain  the  paternal 
earldom  of  Wessex,  indeed,  Harold  had  been  compelled  to  resign 
his  ovv^n  lordship  of  East  Anglia  to  the  rival  power  of  Mercia.  But 
two  years  after,  when  he  was  firm  in  his  saddle  and  the  death  of 
Siward  had  added  the  north  to  the  domain  of  his  family,  Harold 
dealt  a  sharp  blow  at  the  one  house  that  held  him  in  check.  .  .  . 
There  are  but  four  accounts  left  of  the  banishment  of  Earl  ^Ifgar 
in  1055,  and  of  these  three  agree  in  declaring  the  earl  guiltless  or 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ENGLAND.       ^63 

nearly  guiltless.    The  fourth,  which  avers  that  he  publicly  confessed  chap.  xr. 

his  guilt,  but  that  the  confession  escaped  him  unawares,  is  'that  of       — 

the  chronicler  who  is  most  distinctly  a  partisan  of  Harold's.'  .  .  .    «^^® 
tjrij  £         j'lt  ,...  Norman 

Harold  was  forced,  mdeed,  to  consent  to  his  victim's  restoration ;  conquest. 

but  when  Leofric's  death  threw  his  father's  earldom  into  his  hands,  — 
he  wrested  back  East  Anglia  and  girded  Mercia  round  with  the  ^053-1071. 
chain  of  the  possessions  of  his  house.  It  is  impossible,  in  the  Notes. 
absence  of  facts,  to  explain  the  change  of  policy  that  followed.  It  — 
may  have  been  that  the  house  of  Leofric,  confined  now  to  a  few 
central  counties  of  the  realm,  was  no  longer  dangerous  as  a  foe,  and 
might  be  useful  as  a  friend.  It  may  have  been  that  Harold  was 
jealous  of  the  power  of  Tostig  and  of  his  influence  with  the  king. 
All  that  we  know  is  that  Harold  suddenly  reversed  his  whole  pre-  I 
vious  policy,  and  in  spite  or  in  consequence  of  his  brother's  feud 
with  the  sons  of  ^Ifgar,  intermarried  with  their  house.  The  mar- 
riage was  quickly  followed  by  the  rising  of  Northumbria  against 
its  earl,  and  the  rising  was  clearly  prompted  by  Mercian  instigation. 
But  was  the  instigation  simply  Mercian  }  Harold  was  now  the  fast 
friend  of  Eadwine  and  Morkere ;  the  expulsion  of  Tostig  removed 
the  only  possible  rival  to  his  hopes  of  the  Crown ;  the  division  of 
Northumbria  into  two  earldoms,  so  evidently  stipulated  as  the 
price  of  Morkere's  accession,  told  only  to  Harold's  profit.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  when  the  two  brothers  stood  face  to  face  the  charge  was 
openly  made  that  the  revolt  had  been  owing  to  the  machinations 
of  Harold.  It  is  certain  that  the  charge  was  so  vehemently  urged, 
and  received  so  much  credence,  that  Harold  thought  it  needful  to 
purge  himself  legally  by  oath.  Anyhow,  in  spite  of  the  violent 
opposition  of  the  king,  the  royal  minister  yielded  every  point  to 
the  insurgents,  and  his  brother  fled  over  sea.  It  is,  we  repeat,  im- 
possible, from  sheer  dearth  of  information,  to  disentangle  the  threads 
of  this  complicated  web  of  intrigue  and  revolution,  or  to  pronounce 
with  any  certainty  on  the  character  of  Harold's  course  in  the  mat- 
ter. If  Harold  was  simply  using  England  as  a  vast  chess-board, 
and  moving  friends  and  foes  in  an  unscrupulous  play  for  power,  he 
was  amply  punished.  The  revenge  of  Tostig  proved  the  ruin  of 
Harold.     The  victory  of  Stamford  Bridge  was  the  prelude  of  the 

defeat  of  Senlac Even  hero-worship  can  hardly  err  in  its  praises 

of  that  final  struggle,  and  the  critic  who  rates  Harold  lowest  may 
own  that  there  are  supreme  moments  when  even  the  commonplace 
gather  grandeur  ere  they  pass  away.  But  the  character  of  the  man 
and  of  his  rule  is  to  be  gathered,  not  from  the  hour  of  heroic  strug- 
gle, but  from  the  years  that  preceded  it.  A  policy  of  mere  national 
stagnation  within  and  without  sprang  from  the  natural  temper,  the 
poverty  of  purpose,  the  narrowness  of  conception,  of  a  mind  which 
it  is  impossible  to  call  great." 


INDEX, 


Abbo  of  Fleury  writes  the  life  of  St. 
Eadmund,  326. 

Abingdon,  vEthelwold  made  abbot  of, 
283  and  note  2 ;  school  at,  283 ; 
Northumbrians  visit  Eadred  at,  286, 
note  ;  Eadwig's  benefactions  to,  299, 
note  2 ;  clerks  from  Glastonbury 
accompany  .'Ethehvold  to,  329,  note 
2 ;  dealings  of  its  abbots  with  the 
burghers  of  Oxford,  421 ;  Chronicle 
of,  355,  note  I. 

Aclea,  battle  of,  71,  76,  77. 

Adela,  sister  of  King  Henry  of  France, 
marries  Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders, 
494, 498 ;  betrothed  to  Richard  III. 
of  Normandy,  502. 

Adelard  of  Ghent,  his  life  of  St.  Dun- 

.     Stan,  269,  note. 

Administration,  royal,  523  ;  its  devel- 
opment under  ^thelred,  41 1-414 ; 
under  Cnut,  475,  note ;  under  Ead- 
ward,  475. 

^fic  made  High  Reeve,  378  and  note 
4  ;  slain  by  Leofsige,  379  and  note  i. 

^Ifgar,  Ealdorman  of  Essex,  father-in- 
law  of  King  Eadmund,  250. 

iElfgar,  son  of  Leofric,  made  earl  of 
East  Anglia,  511,  517;  makes  alli- 
ance with  GrufTydd  of  North  Wales, 
544 ;  outlawed,  544  ;  restored,  544  ; 
succeeds  Leofric  in  Mercia,  544. 

^Ifgar,  son  of  yElfric,  blinded,  363. 

^Ifgifu,  daughter  of  ^thelgifu,  mar- 
ries Eadwig,  298  ;  parted  from  him 
by  sentence  of  Archbishop  Odo, 
299 ;  seized  and  carried  out  of  the 
realm,  301,  302,  note  i. 

^Ifgifu,  daughter  of  ^thelred  II., 
marries  Earl  Uhtred  of  Northum- 
bria,  383,  note. 

^Ifheah,  St.,  bishop  of  Winchester, 
carries  on  the  policy  of  ^Ifric,  362, 
note ;  negotiates  a  truce  with  Swein 
and  Olaf,  364 ;  negotiates  a  treaty 


between  Olaf  and  ^thelred,  365  ; 
translated  to  Canterbury,  385,  note 
3  ;  his  injunctions  for  the  observ- 
ance of  religious  duties,  385  ;  seized 
by  Thurkill  as  hostage  for  the  Dane- 
geld,  392  ;  his  martyrdom,  392  ;  his 
body  translated  to  Canterbury,  415. 

^Ifheah,  kinsman  of  Eadwig,  294; 
made  Ealdorman  of  Central  Wes- 
sex,  303. 

yElfhelm,  Ealdorman  of  the  Northum- 
brian Provinces,  357,  note;  made 
earl  of  Deira,  358 ;  slain,  382  and 
note  I  ;  Florence's  legendary  ac- 
count of  his  murder,  382,  note. 

^Ifhere,  kinsman  of  Eadwig,  becomes 
one  of  his  chief  counsellors,  294  and 
note  2  ;  made  Ealdorman  of  Mercia, 
297  ;  his  rise  traced  in  the  charters, 
297,  note  3  ;  revolts  against  Eadwig, 
299;  his  influence  with  Eadgar, 
303  ;  his  independence  of  the  crown, 
334  and  note  i  ;  his  title  of  "  Here- 
toga,"  334 ;  heads  the  anti-monastic 
party,  337 ;  supports  the  claim  of 
Eadward  to  the  crown,  338 ;  trans- 
lates the  body  of  Eadward  from 
Wareham  to  Shaftesbury,  342 ;  his 
death,  342. 

iElflaed,  daughter  of  ^Ifgar,  Ealdor- 
man of  Essex,  marries  his  successor, 
Byrhtnoth,  250. 

iElfred,  King  of  Wessex,  his  birth  at 
Wantage,  94  ;  his  visit  to  Rome  in 
early  childhood,  94;  authorities  for 
his  life,  94,  note  3  ;  visits  Rome  and 
Gaul  with  his  father,  95  ;  his  early 
love  of  letters,  95 ;  becomes  next 
heir  to  the  crown  by  the  accession 
of  ^thelred,  96  ;  becomes  Secunda- 
rius,  82,  note  i,  96 ;  his  maniage,  96  ; 
his  sickness,  96 ;  marches  with  ^th- 
elred  against  the  Danes  at  Notting- 
ham, 97 ;  leads  the  van  at  Ash- 
down,  98 ;  succeeds  ^thelred  as 
king,  99  ;  first  King  of  Wessex  who 


566 


INDEX. 


was  also  King  of  the  Mercians,  46  ; 
defeated  by  the  Danes  at  Wilton, 
100 ;  buys  their  withdrawal  from 
Wessex,  100 ;  sends  alms  to  Rome 
and  India,  100  and  note  2 ;  doubt- 
ful story  of  his  besieging  the  Danes 
at  London,  100,  note  2 ;  marches 
upon  Guthrum's  camp  near  Ware- 
ham,  104 ;  makes  a  treaty  with  the 
Danes,  104 ;  besieges  them  in  Exe- 
ter, 104 ;  falls  back  upon  Somerset, 
105 ;  encamps  at  Athelney,  105  ; 
musters  the  West -Saxon  host  at 
Ecgberht's  stone,  106;  defeats  the 
Danes  at  Edington,  106 ;  treaty  of 
Wedmore,  107;  his  work  of  resto- 
ration, 125,  126;  foiinds  abbeys  at 
Winchester,  Shaftesbury,  and  Athel- 
ney, 127  ;  his  military  reforms,  127- 
129 ;  his  extension  of  the  thegn- 
service,  129, 130;  his  reorganization 
of  the  fyrd,  130,  131  ;  creates  a  na- 
tional fleet,  131,  132  and  vote  4;  his 
conception  of  public  justice,  132, 
133,  note  2 ;  his  difficulties  in  en- 
forcing justice,  134,  135 ;  becomes 
King  of  Mercia,  137  ;  sets  up  a  mint 
at  Oxford,  138,  421  ;  at  Gloucester, 
422;  his  laws,  25,  139  and  note  i, 
324;  drives  the  Danes  from  the 
siege  of  Rochester,  142 ;  his  strug- 
gle with  Guthrum,  143  ;  his  (second) 
peace  with  Guthrum,  120;  its  true 
date,  144 ;  its  terms,  144,  I45  ^^^ 
note  I ;  becomes  master  of  London, 
144  and  note  i  ;  restores  and  peo- 
ples it,  144  and  note  i ;  renews  its 
walls,  188,441  ;  rise  of  national  sen- 
timent under,  147  ;  his  intellectual 
work,  149-15 1  ;  his  chaplains,  150; 
education  of  his  children,  150  and 
note  4,  181,  182  and  note  I  ;  of  his 
nobles,  150,  note  4,  153  ;  his  zeal  for 
learning,  150  and  notes  3  and  4, 151  ; 
sends  for  scholars  from  over  sea, 
151 ;  learns  Latin,  151  and  note  I  ; 
story  of  Asser's  visit  to,  1 51-153  ; 
his  work  in  the  creation  of  English 
prose,  153,  154;  his  translations, 
155,  156,  161  ;  work  in  the  English 
Chronicle,  159  and  note  3,  160;  its 
effects,  160  and  note  2  ;  holds  Hast- 
ing at  bay  for  a  year,  164 ;  his  nego- 
tiations with  Hasting,  164 ;  rising 
of  the  Danelaw  against  him,  164 ; 
defends  Exeter,  165  ;  cuts  off  the 
retreat  of  the  Danes  on  the  Lea, 
166;  his  mode  of  life,  167,  168  and 


notes  ;  his  love  of  strangers,  168  and 
notes ;  his  court,  172,  173;  his  bud- 
get, 173,  174;  his  foreign  policy, 
175;  his  dealings  with  the  North 
Welsh,  175,  176;  his  alliance  with 
the  Scot  kingdom,  178;  his  death, 
178;  his  character,  178-180 ;  of- 
ficers of  the  royal  household  in  his 
time,  523. 

iElfred,  son  of  iEthelred,  his  residence 
at  the  Norman  court,  454  ;  prepares 
to  invade  England  wiih  Robert  the 
Devil,  456 ;  lands  at  Dover,  464 ; 
seized  at  Guildford,  464 ;  blinded, 
464 ;  dies  at  Ely,  464. 

Alfred,  an  English  fugitive  from  Dei- 
ra,  settles  in  Westmoringaland,  264. 

^Ifric,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  his 
death,  385,  note  3. 

^Elfric,  archbishop  of  York,  charges 
Godwine  with  the  death  of  the  aeth- 
eling  iElfred,  464,  466. 

iElfric  succeeds  iEthelmaer  as  Ealdor- 
n>an  of  Central  Wessex,  357,  note ; 
negotiates  a  treaty  with  the  Nor- 
wegian Wikings,  360,  note  I  ;  joint 
leader  of  the  fyrd  with  Thored,  361 ; 
joins  the  Norwegians,  361  ;  returns, 
and  is  reinstated,  366 ;  becomes  first 
among  the  ealdormen  on  death  of 
yEthelweard,  378  ;  heads  the  fyrd  of 
W^iltshire  and  Hampshire  against^ 
Swein,  380;  his  failure  and  its 
causes,  381  and  note  i. 

iElfric,  son  of  iElfhere,  succeeds  his 
father  as  Ealdorman  of  Mercia,  342, 
in,  note;  exiled, 357,  358. 

iElfric,  scholar  of  Bishop  iEthelwold, 
his  grammar  and  homilies,  325 ; 
writes  an  English  version  of  the 
Bible,  325. 

^Ifric,  kinsman  of  Godwine,  elected 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  505  ;  po- 
litical import  of  his  election,  506 ; 
set  aside  by  Eadward,  506. 

iElfsige,  Ealdorman,  298,  note  2,  303, 
note  I. 

^Ifstan,  abbot  of  St.  Augustine's  at 
Canterbury,  his  struggle  with  Christ 
Church  for  the  possession  of  Sand- 
wich, 429,  note  I. 

i^lfthryth,  daughter  of  iElfred,  her  ed- 
ucation, 150,  note  1, 182,  note  I  ;  mar- 
ries  Baldwin   II.  of  Flanders,  175, 

239- 
i^lfthryth, daughter  of  Ealdorman  Ord- 
gar,  303,  307,  note  i,  308,  notes  ;  wife 
of  /Ethelwold  of  East  Anglia,  303, 


INDEX. 


567 


note  2 ;  of  Eadgar,  303,  note  i,  306, 
330  ;  mother  of  ^thelred  II.,  306. 

^ifwen,  wife  of  ^thelstan  the  "  Half- 
King,"  foster-mother  of  Eadgar, 
274. 

i^thelbald,  second  son  of  .^thelwulf. 
King  of  Kent,  80 ;  succeeds  his  fa- 
ther in  Wessex,  80 ;  his  marriage 
with  Judith,  'jg.note  ;  his  death,  96. 

iEthelberht,  third  son  of  ^thelwulf, 
81 ;  succeeds  ^thelbald  in  Kent, 
81,  note  2 ;  in  Wessex,  81 ;  his 
death,  8r,  96. 

iEthelberht,  king  of  Kent,  gives  Bish- 
op Mellitus  the  site  for  St.  Paul's 
Church,  436 ;  his  laws,  20  and  notes 
I  and  2. 

.^thelberht,  schoolmaster  at  York,  41 ; 
Alcuin  educated  under,  41  ;  suc- 
ceeds Ecgberht  as  archbishop  of 
York,  41  ;  rebuilds  the  minster,  41. 

^thelflaed  (daughter  of  Alfred),  wife 
of  iEthelred;  Ealdorman  of  Mercia, 
138,  note  2 ;  joint-ruler  of  Mercia 
with  ^thelred,  188 ;  restores  Ches- 
ter, 186,  422;  seizes  the  line  of  the 
Watling  Street,  190 ;  fortifies  Scar- 
gate  and  Bridgenorth,  190 ;  Tarn- 
worth  and  Stafford,  192 ;  Eddis- 
bury  and  Warwick,  193  ;  Cherbury, 
Warbury,  and  Runcorn,  194  ;  takes 
Derby  and  Leicester,  198 ;  receives 
the  submission  of  York,  198  and 
note  3 ;  her  death,  198 ;  its  date, 
183,  note  3 ;  account  of  her  cam- 
paigns in  the  Chronicle,  183. 

iEthelflaed,  niece  of  ^thelstan,  a  kins- 
woman of  Dunstan,  270,  note  i. 

^thelflaed,  daughter  of  iElfgar,  mar- 
ries Eadmund,  250. 

^thelflaed  the  White,  first  wife  of 
Eadgar,  and  mother  of  Eadward 
the  Martyr,  306. 

yEthelgar,  Bishop  of  Crediton,  possi- 
bly a  kinsman  of  Dunstan,  270, 
note  I. 

vEthelgifu  influences  Eadwig  against 
Dunstan,  294  ;  causes  Dunstan  to  be 
outlawed,  296 ;  marries  her  daugh- 
ter to  Eadwig,  298. 

^thelhelm,  Ealdorman  of  Dorset,  de- 
feated and  slain  by  the  Wikings, 
72. 

iEthelings,  their  original  distinction 
from  the  ceorls,  34;  their  relation 
to  the  tribal  king,  34  ;  their  altered 
position  on  the  extinction  of  the 
smaller  kingdoms,  34 ;  displaced  by 


the  thegns,  34 ;  answer  to  the  Scan- 
dinavian jarls,  55. 

^tlielm.  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
said  to  be  a  kinsman  of  Dunstan, 
and  to  have  brought  him  to  court, 
270  and  note  i,  271,  note  i ;  his 
death,  271,  note  i. 

iEthelmaer,  kinsman  of  Eadwig,  294. 

^thelmaer,  Ealdorman  of  Hampshire, 

357,  note  I  ;  his  death,  357. 
iEthelmaer  succeeds   ^Ethelweard  as 

Ealdorman  of  Western  Wessex, 
394 ;  submits  to  Swein,  394. 

^thelmaer,  brother  of  Stigand,  suc- 
ceeds him  as  Bishop  of  Elmham, 
538. 

^thelnoth,  Ealdorman  of  Somerset, 
106. 

^thelred,  fourth  son  of  ^thelwulf, 
King  of  Wessex,  82 ;  his  accession 
marks  a  new  step  in  the  consolida- 
tion of  Wessex,  82,  note  1  ;  marches 
to  aid  Burhred  against  the  Danes, 
90  ;  failure  of  their  joint  attack  on 
the  Danes  at  Nottingham,  91  ;  de- 
feated by  the  Danes  near  Reading, 
97 ;  his  victory  at  Ashdo-wn,  98 ; 
mortally  wounded  at  Merton,  99; 
his  death,  99  and  note  3  ;  his  burial 
at  Wimborne,  100. 

iEthelred  II.,  son  of  Eadgar  and 
yElfthryth,  307  ;  his  adherents,  337  ; 
his  coronation,  341  and  note  i  ; 
quarrels  with  Dunstan,  342,  343; 
materials  and  authorities  for  his 
reign,  355,  note  i  ;  his  title  of  "Un- 
raedig,"  356  ;  his  character,  356 ;  his 
policy  towards   the  ealdormanries, 

358,  382  ;  his  outer  difficulties,  358, 
359 ;  makes  a  treaty  with  the  Nor- 
wegian Wikings,  360 ;  with  Richard 
of  Normandy,  360,  361  and  note ; 
breach  of  treaty  with  the  Norwe- 
gians, 361  ;  causes  .^Ifgar  to  be 
blinded,  363  ;  gathers  an  army  at 
Andover,  364;  makes  a  truce  with 
Swein  and  Olaf,  364 ;  makes  a  treaty 
with  Olaf,  365 ;  weakness  of  the 
English  defence  under  him,  366,. 
367 ;  engages  a  fleet  of  Danish 
mercenaries,  367  ;  makes  descents 
on  the  Isle  of  Man  and  Cumber- 
land, 368;  on  the  Cotentin,  368; 
his  marriage  with  Emma  of  Nor- 
mandy, 370,  377;  its  efi"ects,  376, 
377 ;  number  and  order  of  the  eal- 
dormen  under  him,  377,  378;  sends 
Leofsige  to  buy  off  the  pirates,  378 ; 


568 


INDEX, 


makes  ^fic  high  reeve,  378  and 
note  4 ;  policy  of  his  employment 
of  hired  Danes,  379  and  note  3  ; 
massacre  of  St.  Brice's  day,  380; 
makes  Eadric  high  reeve,  383 ; 
holds  the  Danes  in  check  on  the 
south  coast,  384  ;  buys  a  truce  with 
them,  385 ;  exacts  an  oath  of  alle- 
giance from  his  subjects,  385  ;  his 
measures  of  defence,  385,386;  gath- 
ers a  fleet  at  Sandwich,  386,  428, 
note  i;  its  failure,  390;  buys  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Danes,  392  ;  hires 
Thurkill,  392 ;  defends  London 
against  Swein,  394 ;  sends  his  wife 
and  sons  to  Normandy,  395 ;  his 
flight  and  its  consequences,  395 ; 
his  return,  396 ;  dissensions  in  his 
court,  397 ;  withdraws  to  London, 
398  ;  dies  there,  399 ;  his  financial 
and  administrative  organization, 
387-390 ;  his  fiscal  revolution,  413  ; 
growth  of  the  administrative  system 
under  him,  411-413;  his  creation 
of  the  head  thegn  or  high  reeve, 
412,  524  ;  his  regulations  concerning 
the  trade  of  London,  445  ;  coins  of, 
struck  at  Bristol,  426,  note  i. 

vEthelred,  son  of  i^thelwold  Moll,  ex- 
pels Alchred  from  Northumbria,39 ; 
driven  into  exile,  39 ;  restored,  40  ; 
slays  Osred  and  the  children  of 
Alfwold,  40  ;  slain,  42. 

^thelred,  Ealdorman  of  Mercia,  137, 
138,  note  2 ;  his  titles,  138,  note  2  ; 
married  to  ^thelflaed,  138,  note  2  ; 
London  intrusted  to  him  by  .Alfred, 
144 ;  holds  the  line  of  the  Thames 
against  the  Danes,  164;  attacks  the 
Wikings'  camp  in  Essex,  165  ;  his 
victory  at  Buttington,  165  ;  drives 
the  Danes  from  Chester,  166;  re- 
stores it,  186  and  note  2 ;  probably 
rears  the  castle-mound  at  Oxford, 
421  ;  his  gifts  to  Bishop  Werfrith, 
423  ;  his  death,  188. 

^thelric.  Bishop  of  Selsey,  conse- 
crated by  Stigand,  558. 

^thelstan,  son  of  Eadward  the  Elder, 
his  childhood,  168;  his  accession, 
209 ;  chosen  king  by  the  Mercians, 
209,  note  2 ;  hallowed  at  Kingston, 
209,  note  2 ;  personal  appearance, 
209 ;  his  character  and  that  of  his 
reign,  210 ;  authorities  for  his  reign, 
209,  note  4 ;  knighted  in  his  child- 
hood by  Alfred,  168,  210  ;  first  king 
of   West    Saxons,    Mercians,    and 


Northumbrians,  46  ;  league  of  the 
Danes,  Scots,  and  Welsh  against, 
210 ;  its  submission,  211  and  note  2  ; 
reduces  the  North-Welsh  chiefs  to 
subjection  and  tribute,  211  ;  drives 
the  West  Welsh  from  Exeter,  211  ; 
defeats  the  Cornwealas  at  Bolleit, 
212;  becomes  King  of  Northumbria, 
212;  composition  of  his  Witenage- 
mots,  212, 212,^  note  i  ;  their  national 
character,  213,  note  I,  215  ;  his  for- 
eign policy,  210,  239;  his  alliance 
with  the  northern  clergy,  213;  his 
favor  to  the  Northmen,  214 ;  his 
character  in  the  Northern  sagas,  214; 
his  restoration  of  public  order,  216 ; 
petitioned  by  the  Witan  of  Kent  to 
enforce  justice,  29;  regulation  of 
justice  under  him,  216,  217;  scope 
of  his  laws,  216,  note  4,  225,  note  2  ; 
his  law  concerning  property  and 
trade,  218 ;  concerning  slaves,  320  ; 
his  royal  style,  231,  232,  257,  note 
3 ;  Northumbria  rises  against  him, 
232 ;  his  foreign  alliances,  240,  241 ; 
marches  into  the  north  and  sends  a 
fleet  to  harry  the  Scottish  coast, 
242  and  note  4 ;  receives  a  fresh 
submission  from  Constantine,  242  ; 
withdrawal  of  the  Northern  jarls 
from  his  court,  243  and  note  2  ;  gen- 
eral rising  of  the  North  against,  243  ; 
his  victory  at  Brunanburh,  244 ; 
failure  of  his  plans  of  national  union, 
246 ;  razes  the  Danish  fortress  at 
York,  432 ;  his  alliance  with  Nor- 
way, 251  ;  sets  Eric  Bloody-axe  as 
uncler-king  in  Northumbria,  252 ; 
gives  shelter  to  Lewis  from  over- 
sea, 254 ;  his  negotiations  with  Hugh 
of  Paris  and  William  Longsword, 
254;  his  alliance  with  Lewis  and 
Arnulf  against  the  Normans,  256 ; 
sends  a  fleet  to  the  coast  of  Bou- 
logne, 257  ;  his  pilgrimage  to  Glas- 
tonbury, 271,  note  2 ;  his  death,  257 ; 
its  date,  257  and  note ;  its  effect  on 
Frankish  politics,  261 ;  popular  bal- 
lads of  his  life,  preserved  by  William 
of  Malmesbury,  284,  note  2. 

^thelstan,  son  of  yEthelwulf,  under- 
king  of  Kent,  75  ;  defeats  the  Wik- 
ings at  Sandwich,  75  ;  his  death,  79, 
note  2,  80. 

^thelstan,  Ealdorman  of  East  Anglia, 
249 ;  native  of  Devon,  249,  note  2  ; 
his  possible  descent  from  ^thel- 
red  L,  249,  note  2 ;  nicknamed  the 


INDEX. 


569 


"  Half-King,"  250  ;  his  wife  ^Ifwen 
the  foster-mother  of  Eadgar,  274; 
Primarius  under  Eadmund,  274  and 
note  4 ;  his  increased  influence  under 
Eadred,  275 ;  his  friendship  with 
Dunstan,  274 ;  withdraws  to  a  mon- 
astery, 297  ;  his  ealdormanry  parted 
among  his  four  sons,  297 ;  date  of 
his  retirement,  297,  note  3. 

iEthelstan,  Ealdorman,  distinguished 
from  iEthelstan  of  East  Anglia,  297, 
note  3 ;  joins  the  revolt  against  Ead- 
wig,  299,  note  2. 

^thelstan,  chaplain  to  iElfred,  150. 

iEthelstan,  see  Guthrum. 

ilLthelwald,  son  of  iEthelred  I.,  claims 
the  crown  against  Eadward  the 
Elder,  182  ;  driven  out  of  Wessex, 
becomes  King  of  Northumbria,  183  ; 
rouses  the  Danes  of  East  Anglia  to 
attack  Wessex,  183  ;  his  defeat  and 
death,  183. 

^thelvveard,  son  of  ^Elfred,  his  edu- 
cation, 181. 

^thelweard  of  East  Anglia,  son  of 
iEthelwine,  slain  at  Assandun,  401. 

iEthelweard  made  Ealdorman  of  the 
Western  Provinces  by  Eadward  the 
Martyr,  357,  note  I  ;  becomes  first 
of  the  ealdormen  on  death  of  ^thel- 
wine,  357,  note  i,  364,  tiote  2  ;  nego- 
tiates a  treaty  of  subsidy  with  the 
Norwegian  Wikings,  360,  note  i  ; 
negotiates  a  truce  with  Swein  and 
Olaf,  365 ;  and  a  treaty  between 
Olaf  and  ^thelred,  365  ;  his  death, 
378. 

iEthelweard  the  historian,  descendant 
of  ^thelred  T.,49,  wt?/^  i  ;  probably 
the  ealdorman  of  that  name,  49,  note 
I  ;  character  of  his  Chronicle,  187, 
note  I. 

iEthelweard  (friend  of  iElfric),  325 
note  2  ;  induces  ^Ifric  to  translate 
the  Bible,  326. 

i^thelwine  becomes  Ealdorman  of 
East  Anglia,  303,  note  1  ;  upholds 
the  cause  of  the  monks,  337 ;  sup- 
ports the  claim  of  ^Ethelred  to  the 
crown,  337  ;  his  share  in  the  mur- 
der of  Eadward,  341  ;  becomes  first 
of  the  ealdormen  on  yElfhere's 
death,  357,  note  i ;  his  death,  357 
and  note  i. 

yEthelwold,  Dunstan's  chief  scholar 
and  assistant,  283  ;  intends  to  go 
abroad  for  study,  but  is  prevented 
by  Eadred,  283,  note  2  ;  made  Abbot 


of  Abingdon,  283  and  note  2  ;  founds 
a  school  there,  283  ;  sends  Osgar  to 
learn  the  Benedictine  rule  at  Fleury, 
329  and  note  2  ;  made  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  330 ;  his  school  there, 
325  ;  introduces  monks  into  his  ca- 
thedral church  and  diocese,  330 ; 
possibly  author  of  the  last  continu- 
ation of  the  Winchester  Chronicle, 
326 ;  adheres  to  Eadwig,  299,  note 
2. 

iEthel  wold,  Ealdorman  of  East  Anglia, 
joins  the  revolt  against  Eadwig,  300, 
note  I  ;  marries  Ordgar's  daughter 
iElfthryth,  303,  note  2 ;  his  death, 
303, 7iotes  I  and  2. 

^thelwold  Moll  seizes  the  Northum- 
brian throne,  39 ;  his  victory  at  the 
Eildon  Hills,  39  ;  marries  a  daugh- 
ter of  Offa,  39 ;  his  death,  39. 

iEthelwulf,  son  of  Ecgberht,  King  of 
Kent,  66,  note  i ;  succeeds  Ecgberht 
in  Wessex,  70;  his  character,  70, 
71  ;  defeats  the  Danes  at  Aclea,  71, 
76 ;  defeated  by  the  Wikings  at 
Charmouth,  72  ;  his  alliance  with 
the  emperor,  76 ;  conquers  Angle- 
sea,  77  ;  his  supposed  institution  of 
tithes,  77,  note  i  ;  his  pilgrimage  to 
Rome,  77  ;  his  alliance  with  Charles 
the  Bald,  76,  78 ;  his  marriage  with 
Judith,  78,  79,  note  i  ;  revolt  of 
Wessex  against,  80 ;  decision  of  the 
Witenagemot  on  the  succession,  80 ; 
his  settlement  of  the  succession,  79, 
note  2 ;  retires  into  the  Eastern 
Kingdom  and  resigns  Wessex  to 
^thelbald,  80 ;  his  death,  81 ;  his 
bequest  of  the  crown  set  aside  by 
the  Witan,  81, 7iote  2. 

^theric,  an  East  Saxon,  charged  with 
support  of  Swein,  363,  note  3. 

Agriculture,  its  prominence  in  the  laws 
of  Ine,  21  and  note  i. 

Airsome,  probable  origin  of  its  found- 
ers, 112. 

Alan,  Duke  of  Brittany,  expelled  by 
William  Longs  word,  241 ;  takes  ref- 
uge at  the  court  of  ^thelstan,  241 ; 
ward  of  Eadward  the  Elder,  241, 
note  I  ;  returns,  255. 

Alban,  St.,  church  dedicated  to  him  in 
Wood  Street,  its  origin  and  history, 
439  and  note  i. 

"Alban,"  or  "Albania,"  supersedes 
"  Pict-land,"  178  and  Jiote  i. 

Alchred  succeeds  .-Ethelwold  Moll  as 
King  of  Northumbria,  39 ;  driven  out 


570 


INDEX. 


by  y^thelred,  takes  refuge  among 
the  Picts,  39;  claims  descent  from 
Ida,  39,  note  4. 

Alclwyd  captured  by  the  Picts,  263. 

Alcuin,  his  birth  and  education,  40, 
41 ;  goes  to  Rome  with  ^ihelberht, 
41 ;  master  of  the  school  at  York, 
41  and  note  i  ;  fetches  the  pall  for 
Archbishop  ^^thelberht,  41  ;  his 
meeting  with  Charles  the  Great  at 
Parma,  41  ;  his  work  among  the 
Franks,  41  ;  his  return  to  Northum- 
bria,  42 ;  intercedes  with  Charles 
for  the  Northumbrians  on  the  mur- 
der of  yEthelred,  42. 

Aldate  or  Aldad,  St.,  church  at  Oxford 
dedicated  to,  421. 

Aldermanbury,    its    probable    origin, 

443- 
Aid-gate,  soke  of,  its  rise  in  Eadgar's 

day,  445  ;  held  by  Queen  Matilda, 

446,  nole  I. 
Aldulf,  bishop  of  Worcester,  327,  note 

1. 
Alen9on,  William  at,  490. 
Alexander  II.,  Pope,  sends  legates  to 

England,  559. 
Alfwold,    son    of    Oswulf,    succeeds 

iEthelred  in  Northumbria,39;  slain, 

39., 

Allegiance,  personal,  growth  of  the 
principle  of,  200  ;  its  influence  on 
the  English  kingship,  201  ;  oath  of, 
required  by  Eadward  the  Elder, 
202,  203  ;  by  Eadmund,  203 ;  by 
yEthelred  II.,  385. 

All- Hallows,  church  at  Barking,  438, 
note  I,  446  ;  at  Oxford,  420. 

Aire,  baptism  of  Guthrum  at,  120. 

Ambleside,  265. 

Andover,  treaty  made  with  Swein  and 
Olaf  at,  365  ;  treaty  between  itthel- 
red  and  Olaf  at,  365. 

Anlaf,  sec  Olaf. 

Andredsweald,  the,  the  Wikings  in, 
163  ;  its  extent,  163,  uote  4. 

Anglesea  conquered  by  iEthehvulf 
and  Burhred,  77. 

Anglia,  East,  descents  of  the  Wikings 
on,  74;  Danes  winter  in,  87;  con- 
quered by  Ivar  (Inguar)  and  Hub- 
ba,  87,  note  i,  91  ;  divided  by  Guth- 
rum, 118;  Danish  settlements  in, 
119;  their  character,  119;  rises 
against  Eadward,  196 ;  submits  to 
him,  197  ;  the  (  Danish )  army  of, 
swear  allegiance  to  him,  202  •  its 
*' folks,"  227;    retention    of  tribal 


nomenclature  in,  228,  fiote  i ;  late 
introduction  of  the  shire  -  system 
into,  228,  note  i  ;  ealdormanry  of, 
its  creation,  249  and  note  1  ;  its  ex- 
tent, 250  and  note  I  ;  parted  among 
the  four  sons  of  ./Ethelstan,  297  ;  re- 
vival of  monasticism  in,  330 ;  at- 
tacked by  Swein,  381  ;  ruled  by 
Ulfcytel,  378,  381 ;  its  fyrd  defeated 
by  Thurkill,  391  ;  kings  of,  see  Ead- 
mund, Guthrum  ;  ealdormen  of,  see 
yEthelstan,  ^thel  weard,  /Ethelwine, 
^thelwold,  Thurkill ;  earls  of,  see 
vElfgar,  Gyrth,  Harold. 

"  Anglo  -  Saxon,"  true  meaning  and 
use  of  the  phrase,  184,  note  2. 

"  Angul-Saxons,"  King  of  the,  usual 
style  of  Eadward  the  Elder,  184  and 
note  I  ;  of  ^Ethelstan,  231. 

Anjou,  its  rise,  489;  counts  of,  see 
Geoffrey. 

Aquitaine,  the  Truce  of  God  instituted 
in,  471. 

Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  their  posi- 
tion, 68 ;  supersede  the  West-Saxon 
bishops  as  national  advisers  of  the 
crown,  305 ;  their  relation  to  the 
crown  altered  by  the  new  system 
of  administration,  412  ;  see  ^Eltheah, 
-^Ifric,  iEthelm,  Ceolnoth,  Dunstan, 
Eadsige,  Odo,  Plegmund,  Robert, 
Sigeric,  Stigand,  Theodore ;  arch- 
bishops of  York,  their  importance, 
89 ;  see  iElfric,  ^thelberht,  Cyne- 
sige,  Ecgberht,  Ealdred,  Oswald, 
Rodward,  Wulfstan. 

Archill  revolts  against  Tostig,  542, 
note. 

Armagh,  Wikings  at,  64,  71. 

Army,  its  reorganization  under  ^EI- 
fred,  130  ;  under  .^thelred  and  Ead- 
ric,  385,  386. 

Arnulf,  King  of  the  East  Franks,  his 
victory  over  the  Wikings  at  the 
Dyle,  163. 

Arnulf,  Count  of  Flanders,  son  of  Bald- 
win and  yl^^lfthryth,  241  ;  takes 
Montreuil,  255  ;  his  attack  on  Pon- 
thieu  supported  by  vEthelstan,  255  ; 
his  war  with  William  Longsword, 
256;  h's  alliance  with  ^Ethelstan 
and  Lewis  against  the  Normans,  256; 
joins  Hugh  and  William  against 
Lewis,  256  ;  gives  a  refuge  at  Ghent 
to  Dunstan,  296 ;  introduces  the 
weaving  trade  into  Flanders,  493. 

Ashdown,  battle  of,  98  ;  Danish  lead- 
ers slain  at,  93  and  note  i,  99. 


INDEX. 


571 


Assandun,  battle  of,  400  ;  great  nobles 
slain  at,  401,403;  Eadric  charged 
with  desertion  at,  401 ;  Cnut  builds 
a  church  at,  415,  537;  Stigand  priest 

of,  525,  557- 

Asser,  authority  of  his  work,  94,  note 
3  ;  his  visit  to  .Alfred,  151,  152. 

Athelney,  Alfred  encamps  at,  105 ; 
his  jewel  found  at,  105 ;  iElfred 
founds  a  monastery  at,  127,  169 ; 
John  the  Old  Saxon  made  abbot  of, 
151,  170;  a  scholar  of  "Pagan" 
race  at,  169  and  note  3  ;  difficulty  of 
obtaining  English  monks  for  it, 
169,  170  and  note  i  ;  settlement  of 
strangers  at,  1 70  and  note  2 ;  failure 
of  the  scheme,  171. 

Aylesford,  reconciliation  of  Eadmund 
and  Eadric  at,  400. 

B 

Baeda,  yElfred's  translation  of,  156, 
157  and  note  3,  160  and  note  i. 

Badulf,  last  English  bishop  of  Whit- 
hern,  264,  note  I. 

Baegsecg,  King  of  Bernicia,  joins  Guth- 
rum's  attack  on  Wessex,  93 ;  slain 
at  Ashdown,  93,  note  i,  99. 

Bakewell  fortified  by  Eadward  the 
Elder,  205. 

Baldwin  Iron-arm,  Count  of  Flanders, 
his  marriage,  175. 

Baldwin  II.,  Count  of  Flanders,  his 
marriage  with  iElfred's  daughter, 
-(^Ifthryth,  175,  239. 

Baldwin  (III.)  of  Mons,  493. 

Baldwin  (IV.)  the  Bearded,  restored 
to  power  by  Robert  the  Devil,  455  ; 
marries  a  daughter  of  Richard  the 
Good,  497. 

Baldwin  (V.)  of  Lille,  marries  the  sis- 
ter of  King  Henry  of  France,  494, 
497 ;  revolts  against  the  emperor, 
497;  William's  proposed  alliance 
with,  497,  498  ;  its  policy,  499  ;  his 
alliance  with  Godwine,  499  ;  excom- 
municated by  Leo  IX.,  501  ;  perse- 
veres in  his  rebellion,  502  ;  submits, 
503  ;  renews  his  alliance  with  God- 
wine,  503 ;  shelters  Godwine  and 
his  sons,  510;  sends  embassies  to 
Eadward  in  Godwine's  behalf,  514. 

•'Baldwin's  land,"  name  given  to 
Flanders,  466,  499. 

Baldwin,  chaplain  to  Eadward  the 
Confessor,  526,  527;  a  monk  of 
St.  Denis,  527 ;  his  skill  in  medi- 
cine, 527  ;  Prior  of  Deerhurst,  527  ; 


made  Abbot  of  St,  Edmundsbury, 

527- 

Ballads,  English,  preserved  by  Will- 
iam of  Malmesbury,  284,  note  2. 

Bamborough  sacked  by  the  Norwe- 
gians, 363. 

Barking,  church  of  All  Hallows  at, 
438,  note  I,  446  ;  Erkenwald  dies  at, 
437  ;  nuns  of,  their  struggle  with  the 
Londoners  for  his  remauis,  437. 

Barton,  manor  of,  its  connection  with 
Bristol,  426,  note  2. 

Basileus,  style  of  ^thelstan,  234. 

Basing,  the  Danes  checked  at,  99. 

Bath,  Eadgar  crowned  at,  336 ;  sub- 
mission of  Western  Wessex  to 
Swein  at,  394. 

Battle  Abbey,  site  of  Harold's  stand- 
ard marked  by  its  high  altar,  551. 

Bayeux,  capital  of  the  Bessin,  237  ;  at- 
tacked by  the  Bretons,  240  ;  gather- 
ing of  the  rebel  Norman  barons  at, 
487  ;  Odo,  Bishop  of,  see  Odo. 

Beaduheard,  the  king's  reeve  at  Dor- 
chester, slain  by  the  Wikings,  49. 

Bec-Herlouin,  its  situation,  235  ;  Lan- 
franc  at,  485  ;  fame  of  its  school, 
485,  486. 

Bedford,  its  chief  men  submit  to  Ead- 
ward the  Elder,  195,  203  ;  taken  and 
fortified  by  Eadward,  195  ;  attacked 
by  the  Danes,  196;  by  Thurkill, 
391. 

Bedfordshire,  its  origin,  228  ;  included 
in  the  East- Anglian  ealdormanry, 
250,  note  I. 

Benedict,  anti-pope,  gives  the  pallium 
to  Stigand,  558. 

Benet,  St.,  church  in  London  dedicated 
to  him,  436,  437  and  note  3. 

Beorhtwulf,  King  of  Mercia,  defeated 
by  the  Wikings,  75. 

Beorn,  son  of  Ulf,  his  presence  in  Eng- 
land, 469  ;  made  Earl  of  the  Middle- 
English,  481  ;  extent  of  his  earldom, 
482  ;  opposes  Swein's  demands  for 
restoration,  504 ;  consents  to  act  as 
mediator  for  Swein,  504 ;  murdered, 
504- 

Beowulf,  song  of,  50, 

Berkshire,  its  fyrd  defeats  the  Wik- 
ings, 8i ;  the  Danes  in,  94 ;  mean- 
ing of  the  name,  94  and  7tote  i  ; 
character  of  the  country,  94 ;  raids 
of  Hastings  upon,  164;  earliest  de- 
pendency of  Wessex,  224 ;  detached 
from  Wessex  and  joined  with  Here- 
ford, etc.,  under  Swein,  481. 


572 


INDEX. 


Bernicia  ravaged  by  Halfdene,  loi ; 
remains  an  English  state,  176;  its 
alliance  with  Alfred,  177;  rising  of 
its  people  against  ^thelstan,  243  ; 
Oswulf  high  reeve  of,  281  ;  united 
with  Deira  under  Oswulf,  281  ;  un- 
der Waltheof,  340 ;  under  Uhtred, 
382;  under  Siward,  477;  its  inde- 
pendence of  the  Danelaw,  451 ;  its 
northern  part  becomes  Scottish, 
452 ;  see  Northumbria. 

Bessin,  the,  granted  to  Hrolf,  237; 
wrested  by  the  Normans  from  the 
Bretons,  240;  stronghold  of  heathen- 
dom in  Normandy,  372 ;  Richard 
the  Fearless  reared  there,  372 ;  its 
revolt  against  William,  486. 

Beverley,  .^thelstan's  grants  to,  213 
and  note  3. 

Bible,  ^Ifric's  translation  of,  326. 

Billingsgate,  445. 

Biorn,  son  of  Harald  Fairhair,  113; 
called  "  the  merchant,"  1 13, 430,  note 
3  ;  King  of  Westfold,  430,  note  3  ; 
slain  by  his  brother  Eric,  252. 

Bishops,  English,  their  national  char- 
acter, 68;  their  relation  to  the 
crown  and  the  ealdormen,  293, 
333 ;  growth  of  their  political  im- 
portance, 333 ;  appointed  by  the 
crown,  333,  505  ;  usually  promoted 
from  the  Royal  Chapel,  413. 

Bishopsgate,  its  site,  441. 

Bishops-hill  (York),  churches  of  St. 
Mary  in,  434;  remains  of  Roman 
work  in,  434. 

"  Bishop's  shire,"  old  name  for  a  dio- 
cese, 222. 

Boethius,  yElfred's  translation  of,  156, 
157,  161. 

Bokings,  their  "ham"  m  the  upper 
valley  of  the  Ouse  (Buckingham), 
194. 

Bolleit,  ^thelstan  defeats  the  Corn- 
wealas  at,  212. 

"Boors,"  316. 

Bordeaux  conquered  by  the  Wikings, 

74- 

Boston,  its  rise  and  growth,  432. 

Botulf,  St,  abbey  of,  the  town  of  Bos- 
ton grows  up  round  it,  432 ;  church 
in  London  dedicated  to  him,  446. 

Boulogne,  Charles  the  Great  at,  61  ; 
muster  of  a  Wiking  fleet  at,  163 ; 
counts  of,  see  Eustace. 

Brentford,  Danes  defeated  at,  399. 

Bretons,  the,  attack  Normandy,  240 ; 
repulsed,  241. 


Brice's  day,  St.,  massacre  of  the  Danes 
on,  380. 

Bridgenorth,  Danes  encamp  at,  166; 
fortified  by  ^Ethelflaed,  190. 

Bridges,  their  construction  imposed  as 
a  penance,  323. 

Brionne,  home  of  Herlouin,  485  ; 
counts  of,  their  descent  from  Gun- 
nor,  374. 

Bristol,  its  rise,  426 ;  its  mint,  426 ;  its 
condition  under  Eadward  the  Con- 
fessor, 426  and  note  2  ;  its  feorm, 
426,  note  2  ;  its  slave-trade  with  Ire- 
land, 427 ;  Harold  and  Leofwine 
sail  to  Dublin  from,  510. 

Britain,  character  of  its  population  in 
Ecgberht's  day,  2 ;  mixture  of  races 
in,  3  ;  character  of  the  country,  4 ; 
progress  of  cultivation  in,  4,  5  ;  in- 
dustrial life,  6,  7  ;  first  appearance 
of  the  Wikings  in,  48,  49 ;  impor-^ 
tance  of  its  conquest  to  the  Wikings, 
82 ;  first  appearance  of  the  Danes 
in,  83, 86 ;  concentration  of  the  Wik- 
ing forces  on,  103. 

Britons,  see  Cumbria,  Strathclyde, 
Welsh. 

Brittany,  claim  of  the  Norman  dukes 
to  supremacy  over,  240 ;  influence 
of  iEthelstan  over,  241  ;  he  makes 
its  peace  with  Normandy,  255  ;  sub- 
dued by  Robert  the  Devil,  455 ; 
dukes  of,  see  Alan. 

Bruges,  its  trade,  499  ;  Harthacnut's 
invasion  planned  at,  499;  Swein, 
son  of  Godwine,  takes  refuge  at, 
483  ;  Ealdred,  Bishop  of  Worcester, 
at,  505  ;  Godwine  at,  513. 

Brunanburh,  battle  of,  243  ;  authorities 
for,  243  and  note  3  ;  its  importance, 

245- 

Brytenwealda,  style  of  i^thelstan,  231 
and  note  5. 

Bryhtferth,  Ealdorman,  303,  note  i. 

Buckingham,  southernmost  of  the  Dan- 
ish settlements  in  Mid-Britain,  194; 
held  by  Jarl  Thurcytel,  195  ;  taken 
and  fortified  by  Eadward  the  Elder, 

195- 
Buckinghamshire,    its     origin,    228  ; 
overrun  by  Thurkill,  391  ;    joined 
with    Essex,  etc.,  under    Leofwine, 

544. 

Bucklersbury,  site  of  the  port  of  Lon- 
don, 438. 

Budget,  Alfred's,  173,  174. 

Bull  How,  265. 

Burhred,  King   of  Mercia,  conquers 


INDEX. 


573 


Anglesea,  77  ;  marries  ^Elfred's  sis- 
ter, 96  ;  death  at  Rome,  loi. 

Burislaf,  king  of  the  Wends,  352, /w/^  i. 

Biir-thegn,  523. 

Butler,  see  Cup-thegn. 

Butsecarls  of  Hastings,  513,  note  2  ;  of 
Sandwich,  428  and  note  i. 

Buttermere,  265. 

Buttington,  battle  of,  165. 

"  By  "  in  place-names,  mark  of  Danish 
settlement,  iii. 

Byrhtnoth,  Ealdorman  of  Essex,  303, 
7iole  I  ;  marries  -^Iflaed,  daughter 
of  iElfgar,  Ealdorman  of  Essex,  and 
succeeds  his  father-in-law,  250 ;  sup- 
ports the  cause  of  the  monks,  337 ; 
slain  at  Maldon,  354. 

Byrhtnoth,  brother  of  Eadric,  390, 
note  I.  ^ 

Caen,  council  at,  enacts  the  observance 
of  the  Truce  of  God,  471. 

Caithness,  Northmen  in,  63,  102,  207  ; 
conquered  by  the  Orkney  Jarls,  538. 

Calne,  Witenagemot  at,  338. 

Cambridge,  the  Danes  at,  102  :  they 
submit  to  Eadward  the  Elder,  197, 
202  ;  lawmen  at,  442,  note  3. 

Cambridgeshire  represents  South 
Gyrwa-land,  227  ;  forms  part  of  the 
East  Anglian  ealdormany,  250,  notei. 

Canterbury,  its  wealth  and  importance, 
74 ;  raid  of  the  Wikings  on,  75  ; 
sacked  by  them,  75  ;  mint  at,  219; 
secular  clerks  at,  331  ;  sacked  by 
Thurkill,  392  ;  the  body  of  St.  ^If- 
heah  translated  to,  415 ;  Christ 
church  at,  Cnut's  grants  to,  428  and 
note  2 ;  archbishops  of,  their  posi- 
tion, 68;  supersede  the  West-Saxon 
bishops  as  national  advisers  of  the 
crown,  305  ;  their  relation  to  the 
crown  altered  by  the  new  system  of 
administration,  412  ;  see  ^Elfheah, 
^lfric,itthelm,  Ceolnoth,  Dunstan, 
Eadsige,  Odo,  Plegmund,  Robert, 
Sigeric,  Stigand,  Theodore. 

Carham,  battle  of,  452. 

Carl,  son  of  Thurbrand,  478,  note. 

"  Carl,"  Scandinavian  form  of  "ceorl," 

Carlisle  destroyed  by  the  Danes,  102  ; 

its  unbroken  life,  264. 
Carloman,  King  of  the  West  Franks, 

defeats  Guthrum  at  Saucourt,  141  ; 

his  death,  141. 
Cattle,  the   general   medium    of  ex- 
.  change  in  early  ages,  218. 


Caupmanna-thorpe,  settlement  of  Dan- 
ish traders,  113  and  note  2. 

•  Ceadwalla,  King  of  Wessex,  his  pil- 
grimage, baptism,  and  death,  16. 

Celchyth,  see  Chelsea. 

Cenwalch,  King  of  Wessex,  places  the 
royal  seat  at  Winchester,  222. 

Ceolnoth,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
his  alliance  with  Ecgberht,  70. 

Ceolwulf  set  up  as  King  of  Mercia  by 
the  Danes,  loi,  116  and  note  i. 

Ceorl,  the  English,  55  ;  displaced  by 
the  thegn,  129,  315;  gradually  de- 
graded into  the  vellein,  345. 

Chancellor,  office  of,  its  origin,  476, 
note,  526;  see  Leofric,  Reginlxsld, 
Wulfwig. 

Chancery,  see  Chapel. 

Chapel,  the  royal,  its  institution,  413  ; 
its  origin  and  growth,  523, 524 ;  later 
developments  from,  525  ;  its  com- 
position in  Cnut's  day,  525  ;  Lothar- 
ingians  in,  525  ;  its  organization  un- 
der Eadward,  476,  note  526;  Norman 
clerks  in,  526. 

Chaplains,  the  king's,  their  adminis- 
trative work,  413. 

Chapmanslade,  113,  note  2. 

Chapmen,  322;  law  of  JE\htd  con- 
cerning, 323  ;  of  Ine,  323,  note  l ; 
first  mention  of,  323,  tiote  i. 

Charles  the  Bald,  his  alliance  with 
^thelwulf,  78 ;  .(Alfred  at  his  court, 
95  ;  drives  the  Northmen  from  An- 
gers, 102. 

Charles  the  Fat  defeats  Hasting  at 
Haslo,  142. 

Charles  the  Great,  his  meeting  with 
Alcuin,  41 ;  his  wrath  against  the 
Northumbrians  allayed  by  Alcuin's 
intercession,  42 ;  his  precautions 
against  the  Northmen,  61. 

Charles  the  Simple  disputes  the  West- 
Frankish  throne  with  Odo,  234; 
grants  to  the  Northmen  the  terri- 
tory  between  the  mouth  of  the  Seine 
and  the  Epte,  234;  his  alliance  with 
Hrolf  against  the  dukes  of  Paris, 
236 ;  marries  a  daughter  of  Eadward 
the  Elder,  239 ;  his  crown  claimed 
against  him  by  Rudolf  of  Burgundy, 
239 ;  renews  his  alliance  with  the 
Normans,  239  ;  his  death,  240. 

Charmouth,  battle  of,  72. 

Cheap,  East,  its  origin  and  growth, 
440  and  note  i ;  ward  of,  the  oldest 
part  of  London,  438 ;  its  extent, 
438. 


574 


INDEX. 


Cheddar,  Eadmund's  hunting  adven- 
ture in,  274. 

Chelsea  (Celchyth),  synod  of,  321. 

Cherbury  fortified  by  y^thelflaed,  194. 

Chertsey,  monks  of,  437. 

Cheshire,  salt-mines  in,  7,  note;  its 
origin  as  a  shire,  226. 

Chester  occupied  by  Hasting,  166; 
besieged  by  ^^thelred,  166;  its  im- 
portance, 185  ;  "  renewed  "  by  yEth- 
elred  and  y?i^thelflaed,  186  and  note 
2,  423  ;  church  of  St.  Werburgh  at, 
186 ;  its  growth,  186,  note  3  ;  its 
trade,  423  ;  provision  for  its  secur- 
ity, 424;  its  churches,  424;  traces 
of  Danish  settlement  in,  425 ;  its 
lawmen,  425  ;  its  market,  425  ; 
church  of  St.  John  without  the 
walls,  425  ;  legend  of  Eadgar's  tri- 
umph at,  425,  310,  note  4  ;  character 
of  its  surrounding  country,  425 ;  sub- 
mits to  William,  555. 

Chester-le-Street,  Dunstan  visits  St. 
Cuthbert's  shrine  at,  281. 

Chesterford,  battle  of,  279. 

Chichester,  mint  at,  219. 

Chippenham,  Danes  at,  104 ;  Asser's 
account  of  its  situation,  224, 7iote  i. 

Chronicle,  the  English,  its  origin,  157- 
159  and  notes  ;  its  growth  under  Al- 
fred, 159  and  note  2,,  160  ;  its  account 
of  the  reign  of  Eadward  the  Elder, 
181,  note  ;  of  the  reign  of  ^Ethelstan, 
209,  uote^-y  chronological  difficulties 
in,  183,  note  3  ;  poems  in,  243,  note 
3  ;  its  character  during  the  reigns 
of  Eadward  and  yEthelstan,  284 ;  its 
praise  of  Eadgar,  305,  note,  306 ; 
Chronicle  of  Peterborough,  327,  note 
I ;  Abingdon,  355,  note  I  ;  Winches- 
ter, 158,  159,  183,  note  3,  209  and  Jtote 
2  ;  Worcester,  183,  note  3,  326,  327. 

Chrism-loosing,  120,  note  i. 

Christ  church,  Canterbury,  Cnut's 
grants  to,  428  and  note  2. 

Christianity,  range  of  its  influence,  8, 
9  ;  its  strife  with  heathenism,  9,  ii  ; 
it  creates  a  new  social  class,  12,  13  ; 
modifies  township  into  parish,  13- 
^5  ;  links  England  with  Europe,  15- 
19;  its  effect  on  early  law,  19-21  ; 
on  jurisprudence,  21-23  >  °"  ^^^ 
feud,  23-27 ;  on  heathen  literature, 
324 ;  on  education,  325  ;  on  slavery, 
320. 

Christina,  daughter  of  the  aetheling 
Eadward,  536. 

Church,  the    English,  its    industrial 


work  in  Dorset,  6;  its  character 
after  the  Danish  wars,  12;  its  con- 
dition in  Northumbria,  40  ;  its  rela- 
tions with  the  Mercian  kings  and 
with  Ecgberht,  68  ;  its  alliance  with 
the  Monarchy,  69,  304  ;  its  efforts  in 
behalf  of  slaves,  320  ;  Cnut's  deal- 
ings with,  415  ;  its  reform  under  the 
Confessor,  495,  496. 

Churches,  three  classes  of,  13  ;  become 
the  centres  of  village  life,  14  ;  their 
date  indicated  by  their  dedications, 
420,  421  and  note  i,  423,  note,  437, 
note  3,  447. 

Churchyard,  the  tunmoot  held  in  the, 
14. 

Clair-on-Epte,  treaty  of,  234. 

Cledauc,  King  of  the  North  Welsh, 
becomes  subject  to  Eadward  the 
Elder,  200, 7iote  i. 

Clergy,  the,  new  social  class,  12;  its 
rights,  12;  "regular"  and  "secu- 
lar," 12,  331  ;  decline  of  discipline 
in  the  Danish  wars,  332. 

Cleveland, its  settlement  by  the  Danes, 
III. 

Clifford's  Tower,  at  York,  marks  the 
site  of  the  Danish  fortress,  432. 

Cluny,  monastic  reform  at,  its  influence 
on  England,  329. 

Cnichten-gild  at  Aldgate,  446  ;  its  pos- 
sible connection  with  the  older  frith- 
gild  and  the  later  merchant  -  gild, 
443  ;  at  Nottingham,  422. 

Cnut,  son  of  Swein,  chosen  king  by 
the  Danes  at  Gainsborough,  396'; 
^thelred  marches  against,  396 ; 
mutilates  English  hostages,  402 ; 
returns  to  Denmark,  396 ;  ravages 
the  coast  of  Wessex,  397 ;  joined 
by  Eadric,  398 ;  receives  the  sub- 
mission of  \Vessex  and  Northum- 
bria, 398 ;  lays  siege  to  London, 
399 ;  meets  Eadmund  on  the  bor- 
ders of  Wiltshire,  399;  renews  the 
siege  of  London,  400  ;  forsaken  by 
Eadric,  400;  causes  Uhtred  to  be 
slain,  400 ;  gives  his  earldom  to  Eric, 
400,  403  ;  defeats  Eadmund  at  As- 
sandun,  400 ;  makes  a  treaty  with 
Eadmund  at  Olney,  401  ;  his  age, 
402  ;  his  temper,  402  ;  his  character 
and  that  of  his  rule,  407-409 ;  his 
dealings  with  the  ealdormen,  403, 
411;  murders  a  brother  of  Ead- 
mund, and  drives  his  children  into 
Hungary,  403  ;  children  of  his  first 
marriage,  404 ;  marries  Emma,  404 ; 


INDEX. 


575 


contrasted  with  the  earlier  Danish 
conquerors,  406;  makes  England 
his  centre,  407 ;  sets  aside  Danes 
for  Englishmen,  407  ;  employs  Eng- 
lish soldiers  and  English  priests  in 
the  north,  407 ;  banishes  Thurkill 
and  Eric,  407  ;  sets  Hakon  as  ruler 
in  Norway,  407  ;  sets  Ulf  as  ruler  in 
Denmark!  407,  408 ;  elected  and 
crowned  at  London,  408 ;  renews 
Eadgar's  laws,  408 ;  dismisses  his 
Danish  fleet  and  host,  408  ;  his  hus- 
carls,  408,  414 ;    visits    Denmark, 

408  ;  date  of  his  accession  to  its 
throne,  408,  note ;  his  laws,  409 ; 
organization  of  England  under  him, 

409  ;  makes  Eadwulf  Earl  of  North- 
umbria,  409 ;  makes  Wessex  an  earl- 
dom under  Godwine,  410 ;  makes 
Godwine  his  vice  -  gerent,  410  ; 
changes  the  caldormanries  into 
earldoms,  411;  continues  .^thel- 
red's  administrative  policy,  41 1,412; 
his  dealings  with  the  Church,  415  ; 
his  character  in  English  tradition, 
416  ;  in  the  Sagas,  416  ;  tradition 
of  his  visit  to  Ely,  417  ;  peace  of  his 
reign,  417  ;  his  letter  to  his  English 
people,  418;  his  prohibition  of  the 
slave- trade,  427  ;  Norway  revolts 
against  him,  448 ;  leaves  Harthacnut 
ruler  in  Denmark,  448 ;  goes  to 
Rome,  449 ;  secures  the  safety  of 
the  Alpine  passes,  449  ;  his  meeting 
with  the  Emperor  Coinad,  449 ;  re- 
gains the  land  won  from  Denmark 
by  Otto  1 1.,  449 ;  betroths  his  daugh- 
ter to  Conrad's  son,  449 ;  drives 
Olafout  of  Norway,  450  ;  suppresses 
a  Welsh  rising,  450;  Malcolm  of 
Scotland  submits  to  him,  452 ;  grants 
Lothian  to  Malcolm,  453  ;  his  death, 
458  ;  break-up  of  his  empire,  458  ; 
extinction  of  his  house,  459 ;  per- 
manence and  stability  of  his  admin- 
istrative system,  475,  note  ;  his  chap- 
lains, 525. 

Codes,  early  English,  20  and  note  i. 

Coin,  its  early  use  in  Kent,  218 ;  grow- 
ing use  of,  218,  219,  316,  note  i. 

Coinage  the  test  of  kingship,  138; 
Eadgar's  coinage,  335,  note  3. 

Coins,  Anglo-Saxon,  found  at  Delgany 
in  Wicklow,  62,  note  2 ;  of  Alfred, 
138,  note  I ;  of  Eadgar,  struck  at 
Dublin,  310;  of  ^Ethelred  IL  and 
Cnut,  struck  at  Bristol,  426,  note  i. 

Colchester  taken  by  the  English,  196 ; 


rebuilt  by  Eadward  the  Elder,  197 ; 
Witenagemot  at,  213,  note  i,  215, 
note  2. 

Coldingham  burned  by  the  Danes,  loi. 

Commendation,  growth  of,  201. 

Conquest,  the  Danish,  its  significance, 
50,  123  ;  its  causes,  344  and  note ; 
authorities  and  materials  for  its  his- 
tory, 355,  note  I ;  difference  between 
the  earlier  and  the  later,  404-406 ; 
its  effect  on  English  institutions, 
410. 

Conquest,  the  Norman,  554-556. 

Constable,  see  Horse-thegn. 

Constaniine,  King  of  Scots,  his  strug- 
gle with  Thorstein  and  Sigurd,  102  ; 
cedes  Caithness  to  them,  102  ;  joins 
the  Northern  league  against  Ead- 
ward, 207 ;  submits  to  Eadward, 
208  and  note  i ;  to  ^thelstan,  211, 
242  alid  note  4 ;  his  alliance  with 
Olaf  and  the  Ostmen,  242,  243  ;  de- 
feated at  Brunanburh,  244;  retires 
to  a  monastery,  262. 

Constantinople,  English  refugees   at, 

553- 

Conrad,  Emperor,  his  meeting  with 
Cnut  at  Rome,  449 ;  its  results, 
449 ;  betroths  his  son  to  Cnut's 
daughter,  449. 

Copsige,  Tostig's  deputy  in  Northum- 
bria,  542,  note;  seeks  the  Bernician 
earldom,  542,  note;  expels  Oswulf, 
542,  note ;  slain,  542,  note. 

Corfe,  Eadward  the  Martyr  slain  at, 
340. 

Cork  founded  by  the  Wikings,  71. 

Cornhill,  soke  of  the  bishops  of  Lon- 
don, 444;  church  of  St.  Peter  on, 

444- 

Cornwall,  revolt  of,  against  Ecgberht, 
64;  its  final  conquest,  211;  early 
divisions  of,  221  ;  harried  by  Wik- 
ings, 366  ;  bishop  of,  see  Leofric. 

Coronation,  its  meaning  and  impor- 
tance, 295. 

Cotentin,  the,  conquered  by  William 
Longsword,  241  ;  ^thelred  IL  re- 
pulsed in  a  descent  on,  368 ;  strong- 
hold of  heathendom  in  Normandy, 
372;  revolts  against  William  the 
Conqueror,  487. 

Council,  royal,  first  traces  of  its  judi- 
cial authority,  133  ;  its  origin  in  the 
royal  chapel,  413. 

Councils,  Church,  their  canons  against 
*'  heathendom  "  and  witchcraft,  10, 
1 1  ;   become  merged  in  the  Wite- 


576 


INDEX. 


nagemot,  333 ;   see  Caen,  Chelsea, 
Rheims. 
Court,  the  king's,  its  character,  30 ;  its 
means  of  subsistence,  30  ;  its  prog- 
resses, 31;    its  great  officers,  173, 

523- 

Cranborne,  manor  of,  318,  319. 

Crediton,  bishops  of,  see  ^thelgar, 
Leofric. 

Crowland  sacked  by  Danes,  91. 

Crown,  the,  earliest  known  instance  of 
an  attempt  to  bequeath,  81,  vote  2  ; 
main  basis  of  its  power,  414  ;  sources 
of  its  revenue,  386,  387  and  iiote  3  j 
see  King,  Monarchy. 

Cuckamsly  (Cwichelmslov/e),  Danes 
at,  384. 

Cuerdale,  coins  of  i^lfred  found  at, 
138,  note  I. 

Cumberland,  its  origin  as  a  shire,  228, 
note  I,  266,  note  2;  ^Ethelred  II. 
makes  a  descent  on,  367  ;  danger  to 
England  and  Scotland  from,  368  and 
note  r. 

Cumbria  ravaged  by  Halfdene,  102 
and  note  2  ;  its  extent  in  the  time 
of  Eadmund,  263 ;  its  southern 
part  called  Westmoringa-land,  263  ; 
character  of  country  and  people, 
264;  the  name  replaces  that  of 
Stralh-CIyde,  266  ;  harried  by  Ead- 
mund, 266 ;  granted  to  Malcolm, 
King  of  Scots,  266 ;  results  of  the 
grant,  266,  451  ;  kings  of,  their  op- 
position to  the  West  Saxons,  266 ; 
see  Oswine,  Strath-Clyde. 

Cumbrians,  their  name  transferred  to 
the  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde,  176; 
join  the  Northern  league  against 
^2thelstan,  243. 

Cuthbert,  St.,  wanderings  of  his  relics 
during  the  Danish  invasions,  89, 
102. 

Cup-thegn,  or  butler,  his  office,  523 ; 
held  by  ^^Ifred's  grandfather,  173. 

Cwichelmslowe,  see  Cuckamsly. 

Cyneheard's  Song  Book,  326. 

Cynesige,  chaplain  to  Eadward  the 
Confessor,  526  ;  Archbishop  of 
York,  526;  consecrates  Harold's 
church  at  Waltham,  558. 


"  Dale  "   in    place  -  names,  mark    of 

northern  settlement,  in. 
Dalriada,  the  Scots  of,  subject  to  the 

Picts,  177  ;  kings  of,  see  Kenneth. 
Danegeld,  the  king's  demesne  exempt 


from,  387,  note  3  ;  the  first  national 
land-tax,  389  and  note  i  ;  its  nomi- 
nal origin,  413  ;  continued  as  a  reg- 
ular land-tax,  414 ;  its  amount  in 
C nut's  first  year,  447  ;  resistance  to 
it  at  Worcester  under  Harthacnut, 
467 ;  see  Land-tax. 

Danelaw,  the,  109-119  ;  its  relation  to 
the  North,  120  ;  its  results  on  Eng- 
lish history,  123 ;  its  weakness, 
124 ;  rises  against  Alfred,  164 ;  con- 
quered by  Eadward  and  ^thelflaed, 
194-199;  efiect  of  its  conquest  on 
the  character  of  the  English  king- 
ship, 202  ;  its  bond  of  allegiance  to 
Eadward,  203  ;  its  alliance  with  the 
Ostmen,  205  ;  its  peaceful  submis- 
sion to  iEthelstan,  212;  historical 
continuity  of  the  districts  in,  226 ; 
shires  in,  227 ;  emigration  from, 
into  Normandy,  237 ;  rises  against 
iEthelstan,  243  ;  against  Eadmund, 
258 ;  reduced  to  submission,  262 ; 
its  struggles  with  Eadred,  277-281 ; 
its  isolation  under  Eadgar,  311; 
fusion  of  races  in,  312,  313  and 
notes:  absence  of  religious  houses 
in,  328  ;  joins  Swein,  393. 

Danes,  their  early  settlements  on  the 
isles  of  the  Baltic,  51  ;  effect  of  their 
attacks  in  arresting  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  English  peoples  under 
Ecgberht,  65  ;  different  uses  of  the 
name,  63,  note  i,  65,  note ;  their  first 
appearance  in  Ireland,  73,  note  i, 
86 ;  in  Britain,  83,  346 ;  their  set- 
tlements in  Sweden,  Zeeland,  and 
northern  Jutland,  ^t^  and  note  3 ; 
character  of  their  warfare,  84,  85 ;' 
earliest  authority  for  their  settle- 
ments, 83,  note  3 ;  iheir  struggle 
with  the  Norwegian  settlers  in  Ire- 
land, 73,  note  I,  86 ;  winter  in  East 
Anglia,  87  ;  conquer  Northumbria, 
88 ;  destroy  its  abbeys,  88 ;  set  up 
Ecgberht  as  under-king  of  Deira,  90 
and  note  i  ;  winter  at  Nottingham, 
90  ;  attacked  by  iEthelred  and 
Burhred,  90;  winter  at  York,  91  ; 
at  Thetford,  91  ;  conquer  East  An- 
glia, 91  ;  put  St.  Eadmund  to  death, 
92 ;  Mercia  pays  tribute  to  them, 
92  ;  causes  of  their  success,  92  ;  at- 
tack Wessex,  93,  97  ;  defeated  at 
Ashdown,  99  ;  march  upon  Hamp- 
shire, 99 ;  their  victory  at  Merton, 
99  ;  bought  off  by  ^Elfred,  withdraw 
from  Wessex,  100  and  note  2  ;  win- 


IKDEX. 


577 


ter  at  London,  loo,  7tote  2 ;  return 
to  Northumbria,  loi  ;  conquer  Mer- 
cia,  10 1 ;  winter  at  Repton,  loi  ; 
division  of  their  host,  loi  ;  set  up 
Ceolwulf  as  King  of  Mercia,  loi  and 
note  2,  Ii6  and  note  I ;  seize  Exeter, 
103  ;  driven  from  it  by  Alfred,  104 ; 
overrun  the  Gwent,  104;  their  set- 
tlements in  Yorkshire,  ill;  their 
trading-port  at  Caupmanna-thorpe, 
113  and  note  2;  their  trade,  113,' 
114;  their  organization,  114,  115, 
117;  divide  Mercia,  116;  marks  of 
their  settlement  in  its  local  names, 
116  and  note  2;  their  distribution 
in  Mid-Britain,  115,  116;  their  set- 
tlements in  Lincolnshire,  117;  in 
Leicestershire,  118;  in  East  Anglia, 
118;  divide  East  Anglia,  1 18 ;  effect 
of  their  settlement  on  England,  123  ; 
desertion  of  Englishmen  to,  140, 
fiote  3  ;  attack  Frankland,  141  ;  be- 
set Rochester,  142;  repulsed  by 
yElfred,  142  ;  plunder  London  and 
winter  at  Fulham,  144 ;  frith  be- 
tween Alfred  and  Guthrum,  146; 
renewal  of  war  with,  161,  164,  165  ; 
their  alliance  with  the  Welsh,  165  ; 
defeated  by  Eadward  and  ^thelred 
at  Buttington,  165  ;  driven  back  to 
Essex,  165  ;  defeat  an  attack  of  the 
Londoners,  166 ;  their  retreat  cut 
off  by  Alfred,  166;  break-up  of 
their  host,  167 ;  their  raid  over 
Mercia  repulsed  by  Eadward  at 
Tottenhale,  187  ;  attack  Towcester, 
195 ;  Bedford,  196  ;  defeated  at 
Tempsford,  Colchester,  and  Mal- 
don,  196;  fusion  with  the  English, 
312,  313  ;  union  under  Gorm  the 
Old,  346 ;  attack  Courland,  347  ; 
mercenaries  take  service  with 
yEthelred  IL,  367 ;  massacred  by 
his  order,  380 ;  win  Exeter,  380 ; 
attack  East  Anglia,  381  ;  and  plun- 
der Thetford,  381  ;  their  victory 
over  Ulfcytel  and  the  East  Angles, 
381  ;  held  in  check  by  i^thelred, 
384 ;  winter  in  Wight,  384 ;  march 
to  Cuckamsly,  384;  return  to 
Wight,  384,  390;  a  truce  bought 
with  them,  385 ;  defeat  the  East 
Anglian  fyrd  under  Ulfcytel,  391  ; 
again  bought  off,  392  ;  sack  Canter- 
bury and  seize  Archbishop  iElf- 
heah,  392  ;  their  withdrawal,  392  ; 
choose  Cnut  for  king  at  Gainsbor- 
ough, 396;   defeated  at  Brentford, 

37 


398;  driven  into  Sheppey  by  Ead- 
mund,  400;  set  aside  for  P^nglish- 
raen  l3y  Cnut,  407 ;  impulse  given 
by  them  to  trade,  113,  114,  423; 
their  trade  in  slaves,  427  ;  their  set- 
tlement at  Chester,  425  ;  Norwich, 
431 ;  York,  114,  434  and  note  ;  Lon- 
don, 445  ;  in  Frankland,  234,  235. 

Dane-work,  the,  in  Sleswick,  60. 

David's,  St.,  Cnut  sends  army  to,  450. 

Deerhurst,  meeting  of  Eadmund  and 
Cnut  near,  401. 

Defnsaetas,  English  settlers  in  Devon, 
225. 

Deira,  Danes  settle  in,  no;  parted 
among  them,  no,  264 ;  trade  of  the 
Danish  settlers  in,  114;  its  organi- 
zation under  the  Danes,  115  ;  forms 
part  of  the  Danelaw,  176  ;  traces  of 
its  ancient  divisions  in  the  "shires" 
of  modern  Yorkshire,  221  ;  its  alli- 
ance with  the  Ostmen,  232 ;  Eng- 
lish fugitives  from,  264  ;  united  with 
Bernicia  under  Oswulf,  281 ;  under 
Waltheof,  340  ;  under  Uhtred,  382; 
under  Siward,  477 ;  kings  of,  their 
extinction,  38,  note  I  ;  see  North- 
umbria, Yorkshire. 

Demesnes,  royal,  their  share  in  taxa- 
tion, 387,  note  3. 

Dene,  residence  of  iElfred,  152. 

Denewulf,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  125. 

Denmark,  kingdom  of,  its  growth  un- 
der Harald  Blaatand,  277  ;  physical 
character  of  the  country,  346 ;  king- 
dom of  Gorm,  347 ;  earliest  ac- 
counts of,  347,  note ;  its  capital  at 
Lethra,  347  ;  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity, 350 ;  becomes  an  under- 
kingdom  of  England,  407  ;  ruled  by 
Ulf,  407,  408  ;  by  Harthacnut,  448 ; 
its  bishoprics  filled  by  Englishmen, 
416 ;  its  frontier  again  extended  to 
the  Eider,  449 ;  revolts  against  Cnut, 
450 ;  claimed  by  Swein  Estrithson, 
469 ;  its  throne  disputed  between 
Swein  and  Magnus  of  Norway,  475  ; 
kings  of,  see  Cnut,  Gorm,  Harald, 
Harthacnut,  Swein. 

Derby  (Deoraby),  Danish  name  of 
Northweorthig,  116,  198;  one  of 
the  Five  Boroughs,  198;  taken  by 
iEthelflaed,  198. 

Derbyshire,  227. 

Derwent,  river,  limit  of  Strath-Clyde 
in  Eadmund's  day,  266. 

Dermot,  King  of  Dublin,  shelters 
Harold  and  Leofwine,  510. 


578 


INDEX. 


Devon  or  Dyvnaint,  the  country  of 
the  Defnsaetas,  224;  formed  into 
shire,  224,  note  i  ;  victory  of  its  fyrd 
over  the  Wikings,  72  ;  attacked  by 
Hubba,  104,  106;  Eadmund  Iron- 
side raises  troops  in,  399 ;  bishops 
of,  see  Leofric ;  ealdormen  of,  224, 
note  I. 

Dish-thegn  or  steward,  his  functions, 

523- 

Domfront  surrenders  to  Wilham,  490. 

Dorchester,  landing  of  Wikings  at,  49. 

Dorchester,  see  of,  226 ;  relations  of 
the  diocese  to  the  Mercian  kingdom 
and  ealdormanry,  250,  note  i  ;  divid- 
ed between  the  ealdormanries  of 
East  Anglia  and  Essex,  250,  note  i ; 
bishops  of,  see  Ulf,  Wulfwig. 

Dore,  submission  of  the  Northumbri- 
ans to  Ecgberht  at,  90,  note  4,  208  ; 
of  the  northern  league  to  Eadward 
at,  208. 

Dorsaetan  give  their  name  to  Dorset, 
225. 

Dorset,  progress  of  cultivation  and  in- 
dustry in,  5,  6 ;  hundreds  in,  5  ;  set- 
tlement of  the  English  in,  6  ;  its  in- 
dustrial life,  6,  7  ;  appears  as  shire, 
224,  note  I  ;  victory  of  its  fyrd  over 
the  Wikings,  72  ;  invaded  oy  Wik- 
ings from  Ireland,  366 ;  its  feorm, 
387,  note  3 ;  seaports  in,  428 ;  eal- 
dormen of,  224,  note  I ;  see  ^Ethel- 
helm. 

Dover,  its  early  importance  as  a  sea- 
port, 74  and  note  2, 428  ;  the  /Ethel- 
ing  yElfred  lands  at,  464;  Eustace 
of  Boulogne  at,  508;  secured  by 
William,  551. 

Drogo  of  Mantes  marries  Godgifu, 
daughter  of  iEthelred  and  Emma, 

474. 

"  Dubh-Gaill,"  their  first  appearance  in 
Ireland,  73,  note  i,  86 ;  their  struggle 
with  the  "  Finn-Gaill,;'  86. 

Dublin  taken  by  the  Wikings,  71  and 
note  2 ;  occupied  by  Olaf  the  Fair, 
86 ;  becomes  the  centre  of  the  Ost- 
men,  86 ;  Olaf  Sihtric's  son  and 
Guthferth  take  refuge  at,  233  ;  coins 
of  Eadgar  minted  at,  310;  Harold 
and  Leofwine  take  refuge  at,  510; 
Harold  gathers  ships  at,  513  ;  kings 
of,  see  Dermot,  Olaf,  Sihtric. 

Duduc,  chaplain  to  Cnut,  525;  his 
foreign  birth,  501,  525 ;  Bishop  of 
Wells,  526;  at  the  Council  of 
Rheims,  501. 


Dues,  customary,  316,  317. 

Dumfriesshire,  northern  limit  of  the 
Norwegian  settlements  in  Cumbria, 
265. 

Duncan,  King  of  Scots,  defeated  in  a 
raid  upon  Durham,  538 ;  slain,  475, 
538 ;  his  sons  take  refuge  with  Si- 
ward,  538 ;  his  kinship  with  the 
Northumbrian  earls,  539,  note. 

Dunstan,  St.,  authorities  for  his  life, 
269,  note  2  ;  son  of  Heorstan,  270  ; 
description  of,  270 ;  date  of  his 
birth,  271,  note  i  ;  his  youth  at  Glas- 
tonbury, 271,  272;   goes  to  court, 

271  ;  twice  driven  thence,  272  ;  be- 
comes  a  monk,  272 ;   his    temper, 

272  ;  life  at  Glastonbury,  272,  273  ; 
returns  to  court,  273  ;  made  Abbot 
of  Glastonbury,  274  and  note  i  ;  his 
friendship  with  Eadred,  273,  274 ; 
with  Eadred's  mother  and  with 
iEthelstan  of  East  Anglia,  274,  293, 
note  3, 294 ;  becomes  Eadred's  chief 
adviser,  275  ;  accompanies  him  into 
Northumbria,  281  ;  his  office  under 
Eadred,  282  ;  in  charge  of  the  hoard, 
282,  287 ;  his  educational  work,  282, 
283  ;  buries  Eadred,  287 ;  at  Ead- 
wig's  coronation  -  feast,  296  ;  out- 
lawed, 296 ;  takes  refuge  at  Ghent, 
296  and  note ;  recalled  by  Eadgar, 
301  ;  Bishop  of  Worcester  and  of 
London,  301 ;  consecrated  by  Odo, 
301,  note  3  ;  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 304  and  note  i ;  Eadgar's  chief 
counsellor,  304 ;  his  policy,  304 ; 
his  share  in  the  government,  305  ; 
his  civil  administration,  305  ;  intel- 
lectual revival  under  him,  326  ;  his 
attitude  towards  the  monastic  revi- 
val, 330,  331  and  note  ;  his  policy  of 
fusion  between  Church  and  State, 
333  ;  crowns  Eadgar,  336  ;  supports 
Eadward,  338 ;  his  motives,  339 ; 
crowns  ^Ethelred,  341  and  note; 
withdraws  from  court,  341  ;  his 
quarrel  with  ^thelred,  342,  343  ; 
his  death,  343 ;  his  anniversary  in- 
stituted by  Cnut,  416 ;  church  in 
London  dedicated  to  him,  446. 

Dunstan,  son   of  ^thelnoth,  revolts 

against  Tostig,  542,  note. 
Dunwich,  431. 
Durham,  the  Scots  defeated   at,  383, 

452,  538 ;  bishops  of,  see  Ealdhun  ; 

its  origin  as  a  shire,  228,  note  I. 
Dyddenham,  labor-roll  of,  318. 
Dyvnaint,  see  Devon. 


INDEX. 


579 


Eadberht,  King  of  Northumbria,  with- 
draws to  a  cloister,  39;  extent  of 
Northumbrian  supremacy  under, 
263. 

Eadgar,  son  of  Eadmund,  274 ;  first 
king  of  all  England,  46;  withdraws 
from  Eadwig's  court,  298  and  note  2  ; 
chosen  king  by  the  Mercians,  299 ; 
joined  by  the  Northumbrians  and 
East  Angles,  300,  note  ;  division  of 
the  kingdom,  301 ;  his  titles,  300, 
note,  301  and  note  2  ;  recalls  Dun- 
stan,  301  ;  succeeds  Eadwigas  king 
in  Wessex,  302 ;  his  counsellors, 
303  and  note  i  ;  marries  ^Ifthryth, 
303,  note  I,  306,  330 ;  extension  of 
the  system  of  ealdormanries  under 
him,  303  ;  his  alliance  with  the  pri- 
mate and  the  Church,  304,  305  ;  his 
work  of  Church  restoration,  305  ; 
account  of  his  reign  in  the  monastic 
writers,  305,  note  ;  in  the  Chronicle, 
306 ;  his  person  and  temper,  306, 
307;  at  Chester,  310,  note  4,  425; 
ballads  about  him,  284,  note  2  ;  mar- 
ries iEthelflaed  the  White,  306 ; 
character  of  his  reign,  307-309; 
William  of  Malmesbury's  account 
o^  307*  w'^  2,  308,  note  I  ;  peace  of 
his  reign,  308-310 ;  the  Ostmen  be- 
come his  allies,  310;  coins  minted 
at  Dublin,  310;  his  relations  with 
Wales,  310  and  noteT^\  with  the 
Scots,  31 1 ;  with  the  Danelaw,  31 1  ; 
cedes  Edinburgh  to  the  Scots,  311 ; 
possibly  grants  Lothian  to  them, 
452;  Danes  in  his  service,  314; 
love  of  foreigners,  314;  English 
society  under,  314  et  seq.;  his  alli- 
ance with  Otto  the  Great,  314,  note 
4;  his  zeal  for  monasticism,  330; 
extent   of  his   direct    government, 

.  334;  materials  and  authorities  for 
his  reign,  334,  note  2 ;  the  "  hun- 
dred "  first  appears  by  name  under 
him,  335,  note  i ;  his  new  coinage, 
335.  liote  3  ;  his  crowning,  336 ;  his 
laws,  314,  334;  ravages  Thanet, 
335  ;  his  royal  progresses,  336 ;  his 
fleet,  335  ;  his  death,  336 ;  his  chil- 
dren, 337;  names  his  successor,  338; 
trade  of  London  under  him,  445  ;  his 
patronage  of  the  Flemings,  449 ;  his 
laws  renewed  by  Cnut,  408. 

Eadgar,  son  of  the  aetheling,  Eadvvard, 
536;  chosen  king,  552;  submits  to 


William,  552  ;  takes  refuge  in  Scot- 
land, 554 ;  joins  the  Northumbrian 
revolt,  554;  returns  to  Scotland, 
556. 

Eadgifu,  third  wife  of  Eadward  the 
Elder,  and  mother  of  Eadmund  and 
Eadred,  257  and  note  2  ;  her  alliance 
with  Dunstan,  274,  293,  note  2,  294 ; 
with  yEthelstan  of  East  Anglia,  293, 
note  2 ;  prevents  ^thelwold  from 
going  over  sea,  283,  note  2 ;  driven 
from  court,  294  and  note  3  ;  returns, 
302  and  7iote  2. 

Eadgifu,  daughter  of  Eadward  the 
Elder,  married  to  Charles  the  Sim- 
ple, 239 ;  takes  refuge  in  England, 
254 ;  recalled  by  Lewis,  255. 

Eadgyth,  daughter  of  Eadward  the 
Elder,  marries   Otto   the   German, 

239- 

Eadgyth,  daughter  of  Godwine,  mar- 
ries Eadward  the  Confessor,  482  ; 
sent  to  a  monastery,  511  ;  brought 
back,  516;  surrenders  Winchester 
to  William,  552. 

Eadhild,  daughter  of  Eadward  the 
Elder,  marries  Hugh  the  Great, 
240. 

Eadmund,  St.,  King  of  East  Anglia, 
martyred  by  the  l3anes,  92  ;  his  life 
written  by  Abbo  of  Fleury,  326;  ab- 
bey built  over  his  relics,  92;  re- 
founded  by  Cnut,  415. 

Eadmund,  son  of  Eadward  the  Elder, 
at  Brunanburh,  243  ;  marries  ^th- 
elflaed,  250 ;  succeeds  vEthelstan  as 
king,  257  ;  his  policy,  258 ;  his  royal 
style,  258,  note ;  his  struggle  with 
the  Danelaw,  258,  259 ;  drives  out 
Olaf  and  Ragnald,  262  and  note  i ; 
harries  Cumberland,  266 ;  grants  it 
to  Malcolm,  266 ;  his  hunting  ad- 
venture at  Cheddar,  273  ;  receives 
ambassadors  from  Otto,  273  and 
note  I  ;  his  alliance  with  Lewis, 
268 ;  his  death,  269 ;  buried  at 
Glastonbury,  287  ;  his  children,  274 ; 
his  reform  of  the  law  of  feud,  26, 
267. 

Eadmund,  son  of  ^thelred  IL,  called 
Ironside,  400 ;  sent  to  England  with 
pledges  from  ^thelred,  396;  dis- 
sensions with  Eadric,  397  ;  his  mar- 
riage, 397  ;  opposes  Cnut,  398 ;  falls 
back  on  Northumbria,  398 ;  joins 
^thelred  in  London,  398 ;  crowned 
king  there,  399 ;  raises  forces  in 
Somerset  and   Devon,  399;    meets 


58o 


INDEX. 


Cnut  in  Wiltshire,  399;  relieves 
London,  399 ;  defeats  the  Danes  at 
Brentford,  399 ;  returns  to  the  west, 
399 ;  drives  the  Danes  into  Shep- 
pey,  400 ;  joined  by  Eadric  and  the 
Mercians,  400  ;  by  Ulfcytel  and  the 
East  Anglians,  400  ;  defeated  at  As- 
sandun,  400 ;  treaty  of  Olney,  401  ; 
his  death  and  burial,  401  ;  Cnut's 
pilgrimage  to  his  tomb,  416 ;  his 
sons,  454 ;  they  fly  to  Hungary,  403, 

536- 

Eadmund,  Ealdorman,  298,  note  2, 303, 
note  I. 

Eadred,  son  of  Eadward  the  Elder  and 
Eadgifu,  257,  note  2  ;  his  friendship 
with  Dunstan,  273,  274 ;  succeeds 
Eadmund,  274 ;  Dunstan  his  chief 
adviser,  275  ;  his  crowning  at  King- 
ston, 275,  276;  his  proclamation, 
275  and  note  2  ;  his  royal  style,  276 
and  note  2,  286 ;  the  Scots  renew 
their  alliance  with,  277;  oath  of  al- 
legiance from  Northumbria,  277 ; 
authority  for  his  reign,  277,  note  4 ; 
his  ill -health,  278,  287;  subdues 
Northumbria,  279 ;  final  submission 
of  the  Danelaw  to,  280 ;  reduces 
Northumbria  to  an  earldom,  280 ; 
his  Witenagemots,  286 ;  peace  of  his 
last  years,  286 ;  meets  the  North- 
umbrian chiefs  at  Abingdon,  286, 
note  I ;  his  imperial  claims,  276, 
286;  sends  envoys  to  Otto,  286, 
note  2 ;  falls  sick  at  Frome,  287 ; 
his  death  and  burial,  287. 

Eadric  and  Hlothere,  laws  of,  20,  notes 
I  and  3. 

Eadric  succeeds  Wulfgeat  as  high 
reeve,  383 ;  his  vigorous  policy, 
384  ;  charges  against  him,  383  ;  his 
surname  of  "  Streona,"  384,  note  i  ; 
made  Ealdorman  of  Mercia,  385 ; 
marries  a  daughter  of  yEthelred  II., 
385 ;  his  policy,  383 ;  his  reorgan- 
ization of  the  army  and  the  fleet, 
386 ;  hinders  an  engagement  with 
Thurkill,  391 ;  falls  back  into  Mer- 
cia, 392 ;  his  ealdormanry  called 
"  Myrcenarice,"  392  ;  ravages  the 
Welsh  coast,  392  ;  slays  two  chief 
thegns  of  the  Seven  Boroughs,  397  ; 
heads  the  host  against  Cnut,  397 ; 
his  quarrel  with  Eadmund,  397 ; 
joins  Cnut,  398 ;  accompanies  him 
to  the  siege  of  London,  399  ;  rejoins 
Eadmund,  400  j  charged  with  deser- 
tion at  Assandun,  401 ;    mediates 


between  Eadmund  and  Cnut,  401 ; 
slain,  403. 

Eadsige  made  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 525  ;  his  death,  505. 

Eadward  the  Elder,  son  of  ^Elfred, 
164  ;  his  education,  150,  note  4,  181, 
182,  note  I  ;  attacks  the  Wikings' 
camp  in  Essex,  165  ;  defeats  them 
at  Buttington,  165  ;  his  temper,  182  ; 
his  accession,  182  ;  authorities  for 
his  reign,  190,  note,  183,  note  3;  his 
victory  over  ^Ethelwald,  183 ;  re- 
news the  Frith  of  Wedmore,  183; 
union  of  Wessex  and  Mercia  under 
him,  184 ;  his  change  in  the  royal 
style,  184  and  note  i  ;  repulses  the 
Danes  at  Tottenhale,  187;  harries 
the  Danelaw,  187 ;  musters  a  fleet 
in  the  Channel,  187 ;  takes  the  lower 
valley  of  the  Thames  from  Mercia 
and  annexes  it  to  Wessex,  188; 
founds  Hertford,  189 ;  annexes 
southern  Essex,  189;  rebuilds  Col- 
chester, 197 ;  the  Danes  of  East 
Anglia,  Essex,  and  Cambridge  sub- 
mit to  him,  197  ;  takes  Bucking- 
ham, 195  ;  Bedford,  Towcester,  and 
Northampton,  195 ;  Huntingdon, 
196 ;  Stamford,  197  ;  Nottingham 
and  Lincoln,  199 ;  fortifies  Withani, 
189;  Buckingham,  194;  Bedford, 
Towcester,  Maldon,  and  Wigmore, 

195  ;    Huntingdon  and  Colchester, 

196  ;  Stamford,  197  ;  Nottingham, 
199 ;  Thelwell,  Manchester,  and 
Bakewell,  205,  206 ;  takes  Mercia 
into  his  own  hands,  200 ;  the  North 
Welsh  brought  under  his  direct  gov- 
ernment, 200  and  note  i  ;  receives 
oaths  of  allegiance  from  English 
and  Danes,  202,  203  ;  builds  a  bridge 
at  Nottingham,  206,  421  ;  league  of 
the  North  against,  207  ;  its  submis- 
sion, 208  and  note ;  his  death,  209 ; 
marriages  of  his  daughters,  239, 240  ; 
children  of  his  three  marriages,  257, 
note  2 ;  his  law  against  witchcraft, 
10. 

Eadward  the  Martyr,  son  of  Eadgar 
and  ^Uhelflaed,  306;  named  by 
Eadgar  as  his  successor,  338 ;  his 
claim  to  the  crown  supported  by 
^Ifhere,  338  ;  by  Dunstan  and  Os- 
wald, 338;  his  crowning,  338 ;  op- 
position to,  339  ;  slain,  340  ;  buried 
at  Wareham,  341  ;  counted  a  mar- 
tyr, 341  ;  buried  at  Shaftesbury,  342 ; 
succession  of  the  ealdormen  under 


INDEX. 


581 


him,  357,  note  i  ;  his  anniversary  in- 
stituted by  Cnut,  416. 

Eadward  the  Confessor,  son  of  ^thel- 
red  and  Emma,  his  Norman  educa- 
tion, 395  ;  makes  a  descent  at  South- 
ampton, 462 ;  summoned  by  Hartha- 
cnut  and  recognized  as  heir  to  the 
throne,  467 ;  his  title  of  Confessor, 
467 ;  his  personal  appearance,  467  ; 
his  Norman  sympathies,  468;  re- 
turns to  Normandy,  468 ;  crowned 
at  Winchester,  468 ;  chosen  king  by 
the  English  people,  470;  his  alleged 
promise  to  Swein  Estrithson,  470; 
unwillingness  to  accept  the  crown, 
473 ;  his  Norman  followers,  473  ; 
his  political  position,  476;  growth 
of  administration  under  him,  475, 
note;  his  use  ofaseal,476,  «<7/<f/  his 
position  in  Wessex,  480;  makes  his 
home  at  Westminster,  480 ;  redis- 
tribution of  the  earldoms  under  him, 
481 ;  marries  Eadgyth,  482 ;  influ- 
ence of  his  Norman  counsellors,  482 ; 
gathers  a  fleet  at  Sandwich  to  sup- 
port the  emperor  against  Flanders, 
503 ;  opposes  ^Ifric's  election  to 
Canterbury  and  appoints  Robert  of 
Jumi^ges,  506 ;  orders  Godwine  to 
punish  the  citizens  of  Dover,  508 ; 
refuses  to  give  up  Eustace,  509  ;  his 
measures  after  Godwine's  flight,  51 1 ; 
visited  by  William,  512 ;  his  alleged 
promises  of  the  crosvn  to  William, 
473,  512  and  note ;  gathers  a  fleet 
and  army  to  meet  Godwine,  514; 
his  Norman  counsellors  outlawed, 
516;  his  court  after  Godwine's  re- 
turn, 517;  his  reorganization  of  the 
chancery,  527;  his  chaplains,  526; 
his  relations  with  Godwine's  sons, 
534 ;  calls  home  the  aetheling  Ead- 
ward, 536 ;  sends  Siward  to  make 
war  on  Macbeth,  539 ;  sends  Gisa 
of  Wells  to  Rome  for  consecration, 
558 ;  his  death,  547,  559. 

Eadward,  son  of  Eadmund  Ironside, 
finds  shelter  in  Hungary,  536 ;  called 
home  by  the  Confessor,  536;  his 
death,  545, 

Eadwine,  Earl  of  Mercia,  547  ;  submits 
to  William,  553 ;  revolts  against 
William,  556  ;  slain,  556. 

Eadwig,  son  of  Eadmund,  274 ;  suc- 
ceeds Eadred  as  king,  293  and  note 
I ;  changes  his  counsellors,  294  and 
note  4;  influenced  by  ^Ethelgifu 
against  Dunstan,  294 ;  date  of  his 


coronation,  295,  note  i ;  the  corona- 
tion feast,  295  ;  sentences  Dunstan 
to  outlawry,  296 ;  revives  the  Mer- 
cian ealdormanry  in  favor  of  ^If- 
here,  297;  marries  -^Elfgifii,  298; 
his  marriage  denounced,  299 ;  his 
kindred  withdraw  from  court,  298 
and  note  2  ;  separated  from  his  wife 
by  sentence  of  Archbishop  Odo, 
299 ;  supported  by  ^thelwold  and 
the  West- Saxon  clergy,  299,  note  2  ; 
his  benefactions  to  Abingdon,  299, 
note  2  ;  revolt  against  him,  299  ;  its 
date,  299,  note  2  ;  misrepresentations 
of  its  origin,  299,  note  2  ;  authorities 
for  its  history,  300,  note  ;  division  of 
the  realm  between  him  and  Eadgar, 
301  and  note  i  ;  submits  to  the  arch- 
bishop's sentence,  302  ;  his  death, 
302. 

Eadwulf  of  Bamborough,  ruler  of  Ber- 
nicia,  his  alliance  with  Alfred,  177 
and  note  i. 

Eadwulf,  brother  of  Uhtred,  made  Earl 
of  Northumbria,  409  ;  slain  in  battle 
with  the  Scots  at  Carham,  452. 

Eadwulf,  son  of  Uhtred,  succeeds 
Ealdred  as  Earl  of  Bernicia,  477 
and  note  2  ;  slain  by  Siward,  477. 

Eadhelm,  St.,  Bishop  of  Sherborne,  his 
foundations  in  Dorset,  6;  his  diocese 
called  "  Selwoodshire,"  222,  note  i. 

Ealdhun,  Bishop  of  Durham,  his 
daughter  marries  Earl  Uhtred,  477, 
note  2. 

Ealdormanries,  the  great,  originated 
by  iElfred,  247 ;  danger  of  the 
measure,  247  ;  suppressed  by  Ead- 
ward, 247 ;  revived  by  yEthelstan 
and  his  successors,  248 ;  limitations 
of  the  system,  248 ;  extended  to  Wes- 
sex, 302  ;  policy  of  ^Ethelred  and 
Cnut  towards  them,  411  ;  changed 
into  earldoms,  41 1  ;  see  Anglia 
(East),  Essex,  Mercia,  Northumbria, 
Wessex. 

Ealdormen  become  delegates  of  the 
king,  33  ;  their  distribution  in  Mer- 
cia, 44, 229 ;  in  Wessex,  47,  67,  228  ; 
title  of  ealdorman  given  to  the  head 
of  a  frith-gild,  442. 

Ealdormen,  the  great,  how  appointed, 
248 ;  their  royal  blood,  248 ;  danger 
of  the  arrangement,  249  ;  growth  of 
their  power,  292 ;  checks  upon  it, 
293 ;  their  claims  upon  Eadgar, 
302 ;  their  order  in  the  charters, 
303,  note  I  ;  their  power  over  the 


582 


INDEX. 


crown,  334,  342;  their  succession 
under  Eadward  the  Martyr,  357, 
7iote  I ;  ^thelred's  policy  towards, 
358 ;  their  number  and  order  after 
^thelwine's  death,  377,  378,  383  ; 
Cnut's  treatment  of,  403  ;  changed 
into  earls,  411. 

Ealdred,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  visits 
the  court  of  Bruges,  505 ;  brings 
Swein  home,  505  ;  fails  to  overtake 
Harold  in  his  flight,  511  ;  sent  to 
call  home  the  aetheling  Eadward, 
536 ;  as  Archbishop  of  York,  re- 
ceives the  Pope's  legates,  558;  con- 
secrates Wulfstan,  559;  crowns 
Harold,  559  ;  crowns  William,  552. 

Ealdred  of  Bernicia,  son  of  Eadwulf, 
his  friendship  with  Eadward  the 
Elder,  177,  uote  i  ;  joins  the  North- 
ern league  against  him,  208 ;  sub- 
mits to  him,  208,  uote  i  ;  to  ^Ethel- 
stan,  211  ;  stirs  up  a  rising  of  the 
Danelaw,  242. 

Ealdred,  son  of  Uhtred,  becomes  Earl 
of  Northumbria,  478,  note  ;  his  feud 
with  Carl,  478,  note  ;  murdered,  478, 
note  ;  .his  daughter  marries  Siward, 
476,  478,  note ;  his  death  avenged 
by  Waltheof,  478,  note. 

Ealdred,  a  descendant  of  Earl  Uhtred, 
revolts  against  Tostig,  541,  note  2. 

Ealhstan,  Bishop  of  Sherborne,  70 ; 
his  victory  over  the  Wi kings,  72  ; 
supports  ilLthelbald  against  ^Ethel- 
wulf,  80. 

Eamot,  submission  of  the  Scots, 
Danes,  and  Welsh  at,  211. 

Eardulf,  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  driven 
out  by  Halfdene,  102. 

Eardwulf,  King  of  Northumbria,  suc- 
ceeds i^Lthelred,  42  ;  his  death,  42. 

Earldoms,  ealdormanries  changed 
into,  411  ;  their  distribution  under 
Harthacnut,  479 ;  under  Eadward 
and  God  wine,  481  ;  on  Godwine's 
fall,  511  ;  on  his  return,  517,  518; 
under  Harold,  537 ;  see  Anglia 
(East),  Hereford,  Hwiccas,  Kent, 
Mercia,  Northumbria,  Wessex. 

Earls  substituted  for  ealdormen  by 
Cnut,  411. 

Earth-goddess,  prayer  to  the,  11. 
♦'Eastern  Kingdom,"  its  extent  and 

relation  to  Wessex,  66  ;  see  Kent. 
Ebbe,  St.,  church  at  Oxford  dedicated 
to,  421 ;    date  of  her  martyrdom, 
421,  note  I. 
Ecgberht,  England  under,  1-47  ;  not  a 


King  of  England,  46 ;  relation  of 
the  other  kings  to,  47  ;  deposes  and 
restores  Wiglaf  of  Mercia,  47  ;  ris- 
ing of  the  West  Welsh  against,  64  ; 
defeats  them  at  Hengestdun,  64 ;  his 
efforts  after  a  national  sovereignty, 
65  ;  organization  of  Wessex  under, 
46,  65-67 ;  his  claim  to  be  heredi- 
tary King  of  Kent,  66 ;  sets  his 
eldest  son  over  Kent,  66  and  note  ; 
alliance  witli  the  Church,  69,  70; 
owned  as  over-lord  by  the  Northum- 
brians at  Dore,  90,  note  4  ;  his  con- 
quest of  London,  143  ;  the  complete 
shire-organization  of  Wessex  prob- 
ably dates  from  his  day,  224. 

Ecgberht,  King  of  Deira  under  the 
Danes,  90  and  note  i,  no;  driven 
out,  1 10. 

Ecgberht,  Archbishop  of  York,  his 
regulations  concerning  slavery,  320. 

Ecgberht's  stone,  .-Klfred  musters  the 
West-Saxon  host  at,  106. 

Ecwils,  King  of  Northumbria,  188. 

Eddisbury,  ^thelflaed  at,  193. 

Edinburgh  becomes  Scottish,  311,452. 

Edington,  battle  of,  106. 

Egil  Skallogrimson,  Saga  of,  214;  its 
account  of  the  battle  of  Brunanburh, 
243,  note  3. 

Eider,  river,  frontier  of  Denmark  and 
Germany,  449. 

Eildon  Hills,  ^thelwold  Moll's  vic- 
tory at.  39. 

Elfege,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  kins- 
man of  Dunstan,  270,  note  i. 

Elmham,  bishops  of,  see  iEthelmaer, 
Stigand. 

Ely  sacked  by  Ivar  and  Hubba,  91  ; 
Cnut's  gifts  to,  416 ;  tradition  of  his 
visit  to,  417;  the  aetheling  yElfred 
dies  at,  464 ;  surrenders  to  William, 
556. 

Emma,  daughter  of  Richard  the  Fear- 
less, her  marriage  with  ^Ethelied 
IIm  370,  377  ;  its  effects,  376,  377  ; 
takes  refuge  in  Normandy,  395 ; 
left  there  on  iEthelred's  return, 
396 ;  marries  Cnut,  404 ;  supports 
Harthacnut's  claim  to  England, 
461  ;  remains  at  Winchester  with 
the  huscarls,  462,  463  ;  robbed  of 
Cnut's  treasure  by  Harald,  463 ; 
driven  from  the  realm,  465 ;  her 
friendship  with. Stigand,  557;  her 
property  seized,  557 ;  takes  refuge 
in  Flanders,  466  ;  supports  Hartha- 
cnut, 466. 


INDEX. 


583 


"  Emperor,"  style  of  .-Ethelstan,  232  ; 

of  Eadred,  276,  note  2,  287. 
Emperors,  see  Charles,  Conrad,  Henry, 

Lewis,  Otto. 
Empire,  the,  its  revival  under  Otto, 
494  ;  limits  of  its  supremacy,  494  ; 
its  relations  with  the  church,  496. 
Engle,  Middle,  their  land  about  Lei- 
cester, one  of  the  five  regions  of  the 
Mercian  kingdom,  226  ;  represented 
by  Leicestershire,  226,  227 ;    later 
earldom,  479. 
Engle,  North,  represented  by  Notting- 
hamshire, 227. 
Engle,  South,  their  land  about  Dor- 
chester, one  of  the  five  regions  of 
the  Mercian  kingdom,  226 ;  repre- 
sented by  Northamptonshire,  227. 
Engle  land,  the  original,  settled  by 
Scandinavian  peoples,  59  and  note, 
172  ;  known  in  the  ninth  century  as 
South  Jutland,  60. 
Ennerdale,  265. 

Eric  Bloody-axe,  son  and  successor  of 
Harold  Fairhair,  251 ;   his  charac- 
ter, 251 ;  his  marriage  with  Guuhild, 
251,  252  ;  his  early  adventures,  251  ; 
chosen  by  Harald  as  his  successor, 
252 ;  slays  his  brothers  Rognwald 
and  Biorn,  252 ;  baptized,  and  set 
over   Northumbria   by   i^thelstan, 
252;   his  Wiking  life,  253 ;  threat 
ened  with  deposition  by  Eadmund, 
quits  Northumbria,  258. 
Eric  Hiring,  son  of  Harald  Blaatand, 
received  by  the  Northumbrians  as 
their  king,  278  and  note  i ;  driven 
out,  279;  returns,  280;  driven  out 
again,  280  ;    his  death,  280,  note  2  ; 
account  of  him  in  the  Saga  of  Hakon 
the  Good,  280,  note  4. 
Eric,  King  of  Sweden,  drives  Swein 
from  Denmark,  353,  354 ;  his  death, 
368. 
Eric,  son  of  Jarl  Hakon,  joins  Swein 
and  the  Swedes  in  attacking  Olaf 
Tryggvason,  369;    made    Earl    of 
Northumbria    by    Cnut,  400,  403 ; 
brother-in-law  of  Cnut,  407;    ban- 
ished, 407. 
Erkenwald,  St.,  Bishop   of  London, 
437  and  note  2 ;  rise  of  parishes  in 
London  during  his  episcopate,  437 
and  note  3 ;   founds  the  monastery 
at  Barking,  438,  note  i ;  dies  there, 
437  ;  struggle  for  the  possession  of 
his  remains,  437. 
Essex   forms   part  of  the   "  Eastern 


Kingdom,"  66 ;  its  extent,  143  ;  re- 
united to  East  Anglia  under  Guth- 
rum,  118,  143,  144;  its  division  at 
the  frith  between  Alfred  and  Guth- 
rum,  144,  146;  its  western  half 
formed  into  a  separate  district  round 
London,  146 ;  its  southern  part  an- 
nexed by  Eadward  the  Elder,  189; 
the  Danes  of,  submit  to  Eadward, 
197 ;  becomes  a  shire  of  the  West- 
Saxon  realm,  225 ;  joined  with  Mid- 
dlesex, etc.,  under  Leofwine,  544; 
ealdormanry  of,  its  creation,  250 ; 
its  extent,  249  and  note  3 ;  ealdor- 
men  ot,  250;  their  alliance  with 
those  of  East  Anglia,  250;  see  &\i- 
gar,  Byrhtnoth,  Leofsige. 

Estrith,  sister,  of  Cnut,  her  marriage 
with  Ulf,  408 ;  its  date,  408,  note  2. 

Ethandun,  see  Edington. 

Eu,  counts  of,  their  descent  from  Gun- 
nor,  374. 

Eugenius,  under -king  of  the  North 
Welsh,  215,  note  i. 

Eustace,  Count  of  Boulogne,  marries 
Godgifu,  daughter  of  ^thelred  IL, 
500  ;  excommunicated  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  Rheims,  502  ;  visits  Eadward, 
507 ;  quarrel  of  his  followers  with 
the  townsfolk  of  Dover,  507,  508; 
his  surrender  demanded  by  God- 
wine,  508  ;  refused,  509  ;  called  by 
the  Kentishmen  to  aid  them  against 
Odo  of  Bayeux,  553. 

Evesham,  council  of,  385,  note  4. 

Exchequer,  origin  of,  475,  note;  see 
Hoard. 

Exeter  seized  by  the  Danes,  103 ;  re- 
gained by  iElfred,  104;  defended 
by  him  against  the  Wikings,  165 ; 
iEthelstan  expels  the  Britons  from, 
211  ;  Witenagemots  at,  216  and  note 
I,  218  ;  mint  at,  219  ;  Emma's  dowry 
town,  380 ;  Swein  lands  at,  380 ; 
surrendered  to  Swein,  380 ;  its  situ- 
ation, 427 ;  submits  to  William, 
553  ;  besieged  by  the  English,  554; 
relieved  by  William  Fitz-Osbern, 
554-  J, 

Falaise,  birth  of  William  the  Con- 
queror at,  457 ;  William  escapes 
thither  from  the  revolt  of  the  Coten- 
tin,  487. 

Fearndun,  death  of  Eadward  the  Elder 
at,  209. 

Feorm-fultum,  387,  note  3. 

Feud,  right  of,  the  original   ground- 


584 


INDEX. 


work  of  national  justice,  21;  its 
nature  and  limits,  21-26 ;  its  regula- 
tion under  Eadmund,  26,  267. 

Feudalism,  its  growth  in  England,  289, 
290, 345- 

Feversham,  Witenagemot  at,  216  and 
note  2. 

Finance,  iEthelred's  system  of,  387, 
note  3,  413- 

"Finn-Gaili,"  their  struggle  with  the 
"Dubh-Gaill,"  73,  note  i,  86. 

Fisheries  in  the  bevern,  422 ;  in  the 
Wye,  422,  note  2 ;  on  the  south 
coast,  427-429  ;  in  the  German  Sea, 
430  ;  their  importance,  430. 

Fitz-Osbern,  house  of,  374. 

Five  Boroughs,  their  organization, 
117;  first  occurrence  of  the  name, 
116,  note  4;  conquered  by  ^thel- 
flaed  and  Eadward,  197-199 ;  rise 
against  Eadmund,  259;  submit  to 
Swein,  393. 

Flanders,  its  rise  and  growth,  492 ; 
character  of  its  people,  492  ;  of  its 
counts,  492 ;  their  encouragement 
of  its  freedom  and  trade,  493  ;  rise 
of  its  towns,  493  ;  its  relations  with 
France  and  with  the  Empire,  494 ; 
with  Normandy,  497  ;  with  England, 
175,499;  revolts  against  the  em- 
peror, 497 ;  refuge  of  Dunstan,  296 
and  note  3  ;  of  Emma,  466 ;  of  God- 
wine  and  his  sons,  510;  of  Swein, 
483,  504;  of  Tostig,  547;  called 
"  Baldwin's  land,"  466,  499  ;  counts 

.   of,  see  Arnulf,  Baldwin,  Lyderic. 

Fleet  created  by  Alfred,  132  and  note 
2 ;  its  importance  at  the  siege  of 
Exeter,  132 ;  repulses  the  Danes, 
142  ;  its  organization  under  Eadgar, 
335  ;  its  decay  under  yEthelred,  359, 
367,  386 ;  he  engages  Danes  to  man 
it,  367 ;  reorganized  by  /Ethelred 
and  Eadric,  386. 

Fleury,  English  clerks  sent  to  learn 
the  Benedictine  rule  at,  329  and 
note  2. 

Florence  of  Worcester,  his  translation 
of  the  Chronicle,  327,  note;  charac- 
ter and  composition  of  his  work, 
365,  note  3,  382,  note  i. 

Folks,  the  early,  their  consolidation 
into  larger  kingdoms,  137 ;  its  re- 
sults, 33-38. 

"  Folk-frith,"  22. 

Folk-moot,  the,  its  judicial  character 
and  process,  23,  24;  difficulty  of 
enforcing   its   dooms,  28,  134  and 


note  3  ;  dies  down  into  the  shire- 
moot,  35. 

**  Folk's  justice,"  27 ;  passes  into  the 
"king's  justice,"  29. 

"  Ford  "  in  place-names,  265,  note  2. 

"  Foss  "  in  place-names,  265,  note  2. 

Fosse  Way,  193. 

*'  Fourfold  Realm,"  the,  275,  note  2, 
276  and  note  2. 

Fraena,  Jarl,  joins  Guthrum,  93  ;  slain 
at  Ashdown,  93,  note. 

France,  its  relations  with  Normandy 
and  Anjou,  489 ;  kings  of,  see  Henry; 
j^^  also  Frankland  (West). 

Frankland,  East,  see  Germany. 

Frankland,  West,  the  Wikings  in,  73, 
74,  141,  163  ;  settlement  of  Hrolf  in, 
234;  kings  of,  J^<?  Carloman,  Charles, 
Lewis,  Odo,  Rudolf. 

Frank-pledge,  220. 

Friesland  or  Frisia  conquered  by  God- 
frid  of  Westfold,  61 ;  settlement  of 
the  Wikings  in,  73  ;  Alfred's  fleet 
manned  by  pirates  from,  132 ;  in- 
vaded bv  Gorm,  348 ;  merchants 
from,  43^. 

Frideswide  or  Fritheswith,  St.,  foun- 
dation at  Oxford,  419. 

"Frith,"  21. 

Frith  of  Wedmore,  107  ;  between  Al- 
fred and  Guthrum,  120;  its  true 
date,  144 ;  its  provisions,  144, 145. 

Frith-gilds,  their  origin,  2 1 9, 220  ;  their 
constitution  and  objects,  220 ;  an 
element  of  municipal  life  in  towns, 
221 ;  frith-gild  of  London,  220, 442  ; 
its  possible  connection  with  the 
cnichten-gild    and   merchant -gild, 

443- 

Frome,  Witenagemot  at,  215,  note  i, 
242,  note  3  ;  Eadred  dies  at,  287. 

Fulford,  battle  of,  priests  slain  at,  543, 
note. 

Fulham,  Danes  winter  at,  144. 

"  Fykli  "  correspond  to  "folks,"  55. 

Fyrd,  the,  corresponds  with  the  Ka- 
rolingian  "land-wehr,"  127;  its 
composition  and  its  defects,  127- 
129;  fines  for  neglect  of,  128;  re- 
organized by  Alfred,  130 ;  by 
-^thelred  IL  and  Eadric,  386. 


Gainas  [-^Ethelred],  Ealdorman  of  the, 
his  daughter  marries  -Alfred,  96. 

Gainsborough,  northern  England  sub- 
mits to  Swein  at,  393 ;  Swein  dies 
3^  395 ;  Cnut  chosen  king  by  the 


INDEX. 


585 


Danes  at,  396;  ^Ethelred  marches 
upon,  396. 

Galmanho,  suburb  of  York,  540 ;  Si- 
ward  buried  there,  540. 

Gamel,  son  of  Orm,  541,  note  2. 

Gamel-bearn,  a  Northumbrian,  revolts 
against  Tostig,  541,  note  2. 

"  Garth  "  in  place-names,  265,  note  2. 

Gatesgarth,  265. 

Geoffrey  Martel,  Count  of  Anjou,  his 
conquest  of  Poitou  and  Maine,  489  ; 
his  war  with  King  Henry,  490 ;  with 
William  of  Normandy,  490. 

Germany,  its  friendly  intercourse  with 
England,  475 ;  kings  of,  see  Arnulf, 
Conrad,  Henry,  Lewis,  Otto. 

Ghent,  its  origin,  493  ;  Dunstan  takes 
refuge  at,  296. 

Gild,  see  Cnichten -gild,  Frith -gild, 
Merchant-gild. 

"  Gill "  in  place-names,  265,  note  2. 

Gisa,  chaplain  to  Eadward  the  Con- 
fessor, 527  ;  a  Lotharingian,  527  ; 
made  Bishop  of  Wells,  527  ;  conse- 
crated at  Rome,  558. 

Glamorgan,  descent  of  the  Northmen 
on,  63,  note  4. 

Glastonbury,  birthplace  of  Dunstan, 
270;  its  school  and  church,  271; 
^2thelstan's  pilgrimage  to,  271,  note 
2  ;  tomb  of  St.  Patrick  at,  271,  note 
2;  Irish  pilgrims  at,  271,  note  2; 
Dunstan  made  abbot  of,  274;  its 
school  under  him,  282 ;  memorials 
of  his  scholastic  work  at,  282  and 
note  4 ;  its  influence  on  English  lit- 
erature, 284,  285  ;  wide  range  from 
which  its  scholars  were  drawn,  282, 
note  4 ;  decline  of  monastic  rule  at, 
329  and  note  2  ;  clerks  from,  accom- 
pany i^thelwold  to  Abingdon,  282, 
note  4,  329,  note  2  ;  Eadmund,  Ead- 
red,  and  Eadmund  Ironside  buried 
at,  287,  401  ;  C nut's  pilgrimage  to, 

415. 

Gleemen,  preservers  of  the  old  nation- 
al poetry,  324 ;  their  popularity,  324 ; 
hostility  of  the  Church  to  them,  325. 

Glonieorn,  son  of  Heardolf,  542, 7iote. 

Gloucester  (Glevum),  its  importance, 
422 ;  Alfred's  mint  at,  422  ;  Guth- 
rum  winters  at,  104  ;  ^thelstan  dies 
at,  257  ;  Eustace  of  Boulogne  visits, 
507  ;  monastery  at,  422  ;  Dudoc,  ab- 
bot of,  525. 

Gloucestershire,  part  of  the  land  of 
the  Hwiccas,  226;  detached  from 
Mercia  and  j6ined  with  Hereford, 


etc.,  under  Swein,48i ;  with  Worces- 
ter under  Odda,  517. 

Godfrey,  Count  of  Lorraine,  revolts 
against  the  emperor,  497 ;  excom- 
municated by  the  pope,  501  ;  sub- 
mits, 501. 

Godfrid,  or  Gudrod,  King  of  West- 
fold  and  South  Jutland,  attacks  Sles- 
wick,  60  ;  the  "  Dane  -  work,"  60 ; 
conquers  Frisia,  60  ;  slain,  61 ;  di- 
vision of  his  kingdoms,  61. 

Godgifu,  daughter  of  ^thelred  and 
Emma,  474 ;  marries  Eustace  of 
Boulogne,  500. 

Godmanchester  (Durolipons),  197. 

Godmann,  chaplain  to  Eadward  the 
Confessor,  526. 

Godwine,  traditions  of  his  origin,  410  ; 
marries  Gytha,  410 ;  left  as  ruler  of 
England  in  Cnut's  absence,  410; 
made  Earl  of  Wessex,  410  ;  his  im- 
portance and  wealth,  410  ;  becomes 
"Secundarius  Regis,"  412;  his  po- 
sition at  Cnut's  death,  460 ;  supports 
the  claims  of  Harthacnut,  461  ;  op- 
posed by  Leofric  of  Mercia,  462  ; 
charged  with  the  death  of  the  aeth- 
eling  JEKved,  464,  466  ;  clears  him- 
self by  oath,  466  ;  forsakes  Hartha- 
cnut and  joins  in  the  election  of 
Harald,  465 ;  his  influence,  469, 
474 ;  his  good  government,  475 ; 
his  share  in  Cnut's  administrative 
system,  475,  note;  his  power  over 
the  crown,  480 ;  promotion  of  his 
house,  481  ;  opposed  by  Eadward's 
Norman  counsellors,  482  ;  opposi- 
tion of  the  Witan,483;  his  alliance 
with  Baldwin  of  Flanders,  499,  503 ; 
his  attitude  towards  the  religious 
revival,  495  ;  his  relations  with  Sti- 
gand,  558;  supports  the  claim  of 
iElfric  to  the  see  of  Canterbury, 
505  ;  his  enmity  with  Robert  of  Ju- 
mieges,  482,  505,  507  j  refuses  to 
avenge  Count  Eustace  on  the  citi- 
zens of  Dover,  508  ;  gathers  forces 
near  Gloucester,  509 ;  encamps  at 
Southwark,  510;  summoned  before 
the  Witan,  510;  outlawed,  510; 
flies  to  Flanders,  510;  his  alliance 
with  the  Ostmen,  510;  regrets  at 
his  departure,  511;  equips  a  fleet 
in  the  Yser,  513;  sympathy  with, 
513  and  note  2;  embassies  from 
France  and  Flanders  in  his  behalf, 
514;  failure  of  his  first  attempt  at 
return,   514;     meets     Harold     off 


586 


INDEX. 


Wight,  514;  his  restoration,  515; 
change  in  his  position,  516;  his  re- 
lations with  Eadward  after  his  re- 
turn, 517 ;  with  the  earls,  517  ;  with 
the  Church,  518;  Norman  feeling 
against  him,  519  ;  his  character  and 
work,  520-522  ;  his  death,  534  ;  po- 
sition of  his  house  after  his  death, 
534,  546  and  note  i. 

Gokstad,  Wiking's  ship  found  at,  56, 
note  3. 

Gorm  the  Old,  Denmark  united  under, 
346 ;  at  Haslo,  346,  note  1 ;  conquers 
Jutland,  347 ;  invades  Friesland, 
348 ;  defeated  by  Henry  the  Fowler, 
348 ;  his  death,  348  and  note  1 ;  ex- 
tinction of  his  race,  459. 

Gorm,  see  Guthrum. 

Gospatric  joins  the  revolt  of  North- 
umbria  against  Tostig,  542,  note. 

Greatley  (Greatanlea),  VVitenagemot 
at,  216  and  note  2. 

Grimbald  of  St.  Omer,  Abbot  of  Win- 
chester, 151. 

Grimbald  of  Plessis,  487. 

Grimsby,  its  commercial  importance, 
117  and  note  2. 

•'  Grith,"  the  king's,  32. 

Gruflfydd,  son  of  Llewelyn,  growth  of 
his  power  in  Wales,  475 ;  his  alli- 
ance with  /Elfgar,  544. 

Guildford,  the  aetheling  ^Elfred  seized 
at,  464. 

Gunhild,  wife  of  Eric  Bloody  -  axe, 
251. 

Gunhild,  daughter  of  Burislaf,  King 
of  the  Wends,  wife  of  Swein,  352, 
note  I. 

Gunhild,  daughter  of  Cnut  and  Emma, 
betrothed  to  Henry  of  Germany, 
449  ;  her  marriage,  475  ;  her  only 
child  becomes  a  nun,  459. 

Gunnor,  wife  of  Richard  the  Fearless, 
374. 

Guthferth,  Sihtric's  son,  driven  out  of 
Deira,  210,  note  i. 

Guthferth,  brother  of  Sihtric,  takes 
refuge  in  Dublin,  233. 

Guthrum,  or  Gorm,  leader  of  the 
Danes,  attacks  Wessex,  93 ;  de- 
feated at  Ashdown,  98 ;  marches  to 
Cambridge,  102  ;  his  second  attack 
on  Wessex,  103 ;  makes  a  treaty 
with  iElfred  at  Wareham,  103 ; 
winters  at  Gloucester,  104 ;  joined 
by  Hubba,  104 ;  marches  to  Chip- 
penham, 104 ;  defeated  at  Edington, 
106 ;  treaty  of  Wedmore,  107 ;  and 


divides  East  Anglia,  118;  becomes 
master  of  London,  118;  character 
and  extent  of  his  realm,  119,  120 ; 
baptized  at  Aire,  120;  his  chrism- 
loosing,  120  and  note  i  ;  called  ^Eth- 
elstan  in  baptism,  121  ;  story  of  his 
relations  with  Harald  Fairhair,  121- 
123;  his  defeat  at  Saucourt,  141; 
his  submission  to  -Alfred,  143 ;  his 
[second]  peace  with  ^Elfred,  120, 
144,  145,  note  I  ;  his  friendship  with 
Hrolf,  233  ;  his  death,  161. 

Guy  of  Burgundy,  grandson  of  Richard 
the  Good,  487 ;  his  possessions  in 
Normandy,  487;  revolts  against 
William,  487. 

Guy,  Count  of  Ponthieu,  captured  by 
the  Normans  at  Mortemer,  533. 

Gwcnt,  the,  the  earliest  Wessex,  222  ; 
its  military  advantages,  44;  Danes 
in,  100,  104. 

Gyrth,  son  of  Godwine,  flies  with  him 
to  Flanders,  510  ;  made  Earl  of  East 
Anglia,  544;  accompanies  Tostig 
to  Rome,  558;  slain  by  William  at 
Senlac,  551. 

Gyrwas,  country  of,  included  in  the 
East  -  Anglian  ealdormanry,  250  ; 
joined  with  Nottingham  and  Lei- 
cester under  Beorn,  482. 

Gyrwas,  North,  their  land  represented 
by  Huntingdonshire,  227. 

Gyrwas,  South,  their  land  represented 
by  Cambridgeshire,  227. 

Gyt'ha,  sister  of  Ulf,  marries  Godwine, 
410. 

Gytha  of  Hordaland,  162. 

H 

Hafursfiord,  battle  of,  162  and  Jiote  2  ; 
its  date,  163,  note  3. 

Hakon,  son  of  Harald  Fairhair,  drives 
Eric  Bloody  -  axe  from  Norway, 
252. 

Hakon,  Jarl,  ruler  of  Norway  under 
Harald  Blaatand,  349 ;  Norway  re- 
volts against  him,  365  ;  defeats  the 
Jomsborgers,  390. 

Hakon,  nephew  of  Cnut,  sent  to  rule 
in  Norway,  407  ;  driven  out,  448  ; 
restored  by  Cnut,  450. 

Halfdene  ravages  Bernicia,  88,  ttote  2, 
Id  ;  expels  Bishop  Eardulf  from 
Lindisfarne,  102 ;  burns  Cokling- 
ham,  loi  ;  destroys  Carlisle,  102 ; 
ravages  Cumbria  and  Strathclyde, 
102  and  note  2,  no;  divides  Deira, 
III. 


INDEX. 


587 


Halfdene,  King  of  Northumbria,  his 
defeat  and  death,  188. 

Halgoland,  172;  called  a"scyr"by 
Alfred,  224,  note  i. 

Hallamshire,  survival  of  the  ancient 
divisions  of  Deiia,  221. 

"  Ham  "  in  place-names,  265,  note  2. 

Hamon  of  Thorigny,  486. 

Hampshire,  see  Hamtonshire. 

Hamtonshire ;  victories  of  its  fyrd 
over  the  Wikings,  72,  81 ;  Wiking 
raids  upon,  164;  origin  and  mean- 
ing of  its  name,  222,  223  ;  date  of 
its  formation,  222 ;  its  relation  to 
Wiltshire,  223  ;  ealdormen  of,  224, 
note  I ;  see  Wessex  (Central),  Wulf- 
heard. 

Hamton,  see  Southampton. 

"Hand"  or  "mund,"  its  meaning,  21 
and  note  2. 

Hanse  Towns,  their  trade  with  Eng- 
land, 430. 

Harald,  son  of  Cnut,  404 ;  claims  the 
crown  of  England,  459;  called  Hare- 
foot,  462  ;  his  claims*  supported  by 
Leofric  and  the  lithsmen  of  London, 
462  ;  becomes  King  of  all  England 
save  Wessex,  462  ;  seizes  Sandwich, 
428,  429,  note  I ;  robs  Emma  of 
Cnut's  treasure,  463 ;  causes  the 
aetheling  itifred  to  be  blinded,  464; 
chosen  king  in  Wessex,  465  ;  his 
death  and  burial,  466  ;  his  body  out- 
raged by  Harthacnut,  466. 

Harald  Blaatand,  King  of  Denmark, 
date  of  his  birth,  348,  note  i  ;  his 
policy  in  Normandy,  268 ;  his  de- 
signs upon  Britain,.277, 278 ;  his  son 
Eric  in  Northumbria,  278  and  note 
I  ;  his  war  with  Otto  the  Great,  309 ; 
his  son  King  of  Semland,  278,  348 ; 
his  over-lordship  over  Norway,  349 ; 
his  alliance  with  Norman  dukes, 
349 ;    invades    the    Saxon    Duchy, 

349  ;  defeated  by  Otto,  349  ;  again 
attacks*  Germany  on  ()tto's  death, 
349;  becomes  a  Christian,  350; 
transfers  his  royal  seat  to  Roeskilde, 

350  ;  goes  to  dwell  in  Jutland,  350 ; 
opposed  by  his  son  Swein,  351  ; 
drives  Swein  from  Denmark,  351  ; 
his  defeat  and  death,  351  ;  story  of 
his  burial-feast,  352,  353. 

Harald,  son  of  Swein,  becomes  King 
of  Denmark,  396 ;  probable  date  of 
his  death,  408,  note  i. 

Harald  Fairhair  (Harfager),  King  of 
Westfold,  162 ;    becomes   King  of 


Norway,  162 ;  drives  out  the  Wik- 
ings from  the  Orkneys  and  founds 
an  earldom  there,  163  and  note  3  ; 
his  relations  with  ^thelstan  (Guth- 
rum),  1 21-123  ;  l^^s  death,  251. 

Harald  Hardrada  becomes  King  of 
Norway,  484;  invades  England, 
548 ;  his  overthrow  at  Stamford 
Bridge,  549. 

Harald,  Jarl,  joins  Guthrum's  attack 
on  Wessex,  93  ;  slain  at  Ashdown, 
92,  note  I. 

Harald,  see  Strut-Harald. 

Harold,  son  of  Godwine,  461 ;  Earl  of 
East  Anglia,  481 ;  opposes  Swein's 
restoration,  504 ;  flies  to  Bristol, 
510;  takes  refuge  in  Ireland,  510; 
gathers  ships  at  Dublin,  513;  de- 
scent on  Porlock,  514;  joins  his 
father,  514;  his  earldom  restored, 
518;  succeeds  Godwine  as  Earl  of 
Wessex,  534;  his  relations  with 
Eadward,  534;  with  England,  535, 
561  ;  his  character,  561,  562,  563  ; 
his  plans  for  the  succession  to  the 
crown,  535  ;  his  policy  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  earldoms,  537,  562  ; 
and  towards  ytllfgar,  544;  takes 
possession  of  the  earldom  of  Here- 
ford, 544;  his  power  and  his  aim, 
545 ;  failure  of  his  foreign  policy, 
546;  his  oath  to  William,  547;  ob- 
scurity of  his  administration,  562; 
his  change  of  policy,  563;  his  possi- 
ble share  in  the  rising  of  Northum- 
bria, 563 ;  present  at  Eadward's 
death,  559 ;  succeeds  him  as  king, 
547  ;  crowned  by  Ealdred,  559 ;  de- 
feats the  Norwegians  at  Stamford 
Bridge,  549  ;  marches  back  to  Lon- 
don, 549 ;  encamps  on  Senlac,  549 ; 
his  death,  55 1 ;  his  huscarls,  475.  note. 

Harold,  or  Heriold,  claims  the  throne 
of  Jutland,  61 ;  his  conversion  and 
expulsion,  61. 

Harthacnut,  son  ofCnut,  ruler  in  Den- 
mark under  the  guardianship  of 
Ulf,  448 ;  appointed  by  Cnut  to 
succeed  him  in  England,  460 ;  his 
treaty  with  Magnus,  458  ;  his  claim 
supported  by  Godwine  and  Emma, 
461  ;  chosen  King  of  Wessex,  462  ; 
forsaken  by  Wessex,  465  ;  plans  in- 
vasion of  England,  466 ;  chosen 
king,  466 ;  character  of  his  reign, 
467 ;  sends  for  Eadward,  467 ;  his 
death,  468 ;  redistribution  of  earl- 
doms in  his  time,  479. 


588 


INDEX. 


Harthacnut,  or  Ilardegon,  a  Norwe- 
gian conqueror,  supposed  ancestor 
of  Gorm  the  Old,  346,  nole  i. 

Haslo,  battle  of,  142. 

Hasting,  leader  of  the  Wikings,  107  ; 
his  defeat  at  Haslo,  142  ;  his  strug- 
gle with  King  Odo,  163  ;  invades 
Kent,  163 ;  held  at  bay  by  Alfred, 
164;  encamps  on  the  Colne,  164; 
the  Danelaw  rises  in  his  aid,  164; 
attacked  by  Eadward  and  ^Ethel- 
red,  165  ;  his  attack  on  the  Severn 
valley,  165  ;  defeated,  165  ;  occupies 
Chester,  166 ;  besieged  and  driven 
out  by  iEthelred,  166 ;  withdraws 
to  a  camp  on  the  Lea,  166 ;  rejoined 
by  the  fleet  from  Exeter,  166;  re- 
turns to  Frankland,  167. 

Hastings,  mint  at,  219  ;  its  sailors  pur- 
sue Swein,  504  ;  support  Godwine, 
513,  vote  2  ;  battle  of,  549-551. 

"  Haugh  "  in  place-names,  265,  note  2. 

"  Heathenism,"  decrees  against,  un- 
der ^:thelred  H.,  385  and  note  4; 
under  Cnut,  10,  11 ;  strife  of  Chris- 
tianity with,  9- II;  survival  of  its 
customs,  II. 

Hebrides,  the,  Wiking  settlements  in, 
63,  207  ;  conquered  by  the  Orkney 
jarls,  538. 

Heca,  Bishop  of  Selsey,  526. 

Hecanas,  their  land  becomes  Here- 
fordshire, 226. 

Helinandus,  chaplain  to  Eadward  the 
Confessor,  528. 

Heming,  King  of  South  Jutland,  61 ; 
peace  with  the  Franks,  61. 

Hengestdun,  battle  of,  64. 

Henry  the  Fowler  defeats  Gorm  the 
Old,  348. 

Henry  HI.,  Emperor,  betrothed  to 
Cnut's  daughter,  449 ;  his  marriage, 
475  ;  his  character  and  policy,  495  ; 
his  ecclesiastical  reforms,  496,  500 ; 
revolt  against,  497 ;  the  rebels  ex- 
communicated by  \jto  IX.,  501 ;  calls 
on  England  for  help,  503  ;  the  rebels 
submit,  503. 

Henry,  King  of  France,  restored  by 
Robert  the  Devil,  455;  fights  at 
Val-es-Dunes,  488;  his  war  with 
Geoffrey  of  Anjou,  490 ;  joined  by 
William,  490 ;  favors  Godwine,  514 ; 
his  policy,  532 ;  his  invasion  of  Nor- 
mandy, 532  ;  its  failure,  533. 

Heorstan,  father  of  St.  Dunstan,  270. 

Herebriht,  Ealdorman,  slain  by  the 
Wikings,  75. 


Hereford,  the  North  -  Welsh  chiefs 
submit  to  ^thelstan  at,  211;  bish- 
ops of,  see  Walter ;  earls  of,  see 
Harold,  Ralf,  Swein. 

Herefordshire,  the  land  of  the  Heca- 
nas, 225 ;  and  of  the  Magesaetas,  400, 
479 ;  severed  from  the  Mercian  earl- 
dom, 479;  fighting  between  Nor- 
mans and  English  in,  508;  raid  of 
^Ifgar  and  Gruffydd  upon,  544. 

Heretha-land,  48,  note  i. 

Hereward  heads  a  revolt  in  the  fens, 
556. 

Herfast,  brother  of  Gunnor,  374. 

Herlouin,  founder  of  Bee,  his  recep- 
tion of  Lanfranc,  485. 

Herlwin,  Count  of  Ponthieu,  attacked 
by  Flanders,  255. 

Hermann,  Bishop  of  the  Wilsaetas 
(Ramsbury),  525,  526. 

Hertford  founded  by  Eadward  the 
Elder,  189. 

Hertfordshire,  its  origin^  228;  forms 
part  of  the  East -Anglian  ealdor- 
manry,  250,  tiote  i ;  joined  with  Es- 
sex, etc.,  under  Leofwine,  544;  Will- 
iam marches  into,  552. 

Hexham,  see  of,  its  extinction,  89. 

Hildebrand,  counsellor  of  Pope  Leo 
IX.,  497 ;  of  Nicholas  II.  and  Al- 
exander II.,  558. 

High  reeve,  or  high  thegn,  office  cre- 
ated by  iEthelred,  378, 412,  524  ;  be- 
comes permanent  under  Cnut,  524; 
develops  into  the  "  Secundarius 
Regis"  and  the  justiciar,  524;  see 
itfic,  Eadric,  Wulfgeat. 

"Higra,"ii3. 

Hlothere  and  Eadric,  laws  of,  20,  notes 
I  and  3,  323,  note  i. 

Hoard,  the,  Dunstan  in  charge  of,  282, 
287  ;  accompanies  the  king  in  Dun- 
stan's  day,  387,  note  i  ;  settled  at 
Winchester  in  Eadward's  day,  387, 
nole  I  ;  its  contents,  387,  523  ;  their 
sources,  387 ;  its  importance  under 
Eadward,  476,  note. 

Holland,  the  Count  of,  revolts  against 
the  Emperor  Henry  III.,  497. 

Holy  Island,  see  Lindisfarne. 

Hordere,  the,  his  various  titles,  523  ; 
his  functions,  524;  growth  of  his 
importance  as  treasurer,  524;  earli- 
est holders  of  the  office,  524. 

Horseflesh,  use  of,  9. 

Horse-thegn,  or  constable,  his  office, 

Howel,  King  of  the  North  Welsh,  be- 


INDEX. 


589 


comes  subject  to  Eadward  the  Elder, 
200,  note;  submits  to  iEthelstan, 
211 ;  present  in  his  Witenagemots, 
215  and  note  i. 

Hraegel-thegn,  523. 

Hrolf,  friend  of  Guthrum  of  East  An- 
glia,  233 ;  his  forays  along  the  Seine, 
233  ;  their  results,  233  ;  his  attacks 
upon  Rouen,  234 ;  his  settlement  in 
Frankland,  234  ;  probably  of  Norse 
blood,  236,  note  i ;  supports  Charles 
the  Simple  against  the  dukes  of 
Paris,  236  ;  receives  grant  of  the 
Bessin,  237. 

Hubba,  brother  of  Ivar,  87,  note  i,  91 ; 
conquers  East  Anglia,  91 ;  com- 
mands a  Wiking  fleet  in  the  Bris- 
tol Channel,  93  ;  joins  Guthrum  in 
the  Severn,  104 ;  defeated  by  the 
fyrd  of  Devon,  106. 

Hubert,  St.,  his  hermitage,  264. 

Hugh  the  Great,  son  of  Robert  of  Paris, 
236 ;  marries  ^thelstan's  sister 
Eadhild,  240;  attacks  Normandy, 
240 ;  brings  back  •'  Lewis  from 
over  -  sea,"  254  ;  leagues  with 
William  Longsword  and  Arnulf  of 
Flanders  against  Lewis,  256  ;  makes 
peace  with  Lewis,  261  ;  joins  Har- 
ald  Blaatand  and  the  Normans 
against  him,  268;  receives  him  as  a 
captive,  268;  his  defiance  to  Ead- 
mund,  268. 

Hugh,  Norman  reeve  of  Exeter,  380 ; 
surrenders  it  to  Swein,  380. 

Hundred,  division  of  the  shire,  possi- 
bly instituted  by  Alfred,  135,  note  5  ; 
first  appears  by  name  under  Ead- 
gar,335,  note  i ;  names  of  hundreds 
in  Dorset,  5  and  note. 

Huntingdon  occupied  and  fortified  by 
Eadward  the  Elder,  196 ;  Danes  of, 
attack  Bedford,  196 ;  encamp  at 
Tempsford,  196 ;  swear  allegiance 
to  Eadward,  203. 

Huntingdonshire  represents  North 
Gwyra  land,  227  ;  forms  part  of  the 
East-Anglian  ealdormanry,  250,  note 
I  ;  joined  to  Northumbria  under 
Siward,  518. 

Hungary,  Eadmund  Ironside's  children 
take  refuge  in,  403, 454  ;  conquered 
by  the  Emperor  Henry  III.,  495. 

Hurstbourn,  its  labor-roll,  317. 

Huscarls  instituted  by  Cnut,  408,414; 
remain  with  Emma  at  Winchester, 
462,  463  ;  their  development  under 
Harold,  475,  note. 


Huscarl-tax,  its  probable  origin,  387, 
note  3. 

Husting,  the  Danish,  446. 

Hwiccas,  land  of  the,  one  of  the  five 
regions  of  the  Mercian  kingdom, 
226 ;  divided  into  the  shires  of 
Gloucester  and  Worcester,  226; 
their  clearings  in  the  south  of  Ar- 
den  become  Warwickshire,  226; 
earldom  of,  severed  from  Mercia  by 
Cnut,  479;  given  to  Odda,  517; 
ealdormen  of,  see  Leofric,  Leofwine  ; 
earls  of,  see  Odda. 


Iceland,  emigration  from  the  Danelaw 
to,  124, 125,  note  I ;  colonized  by  the 
Northmen,  162. 

Icknield  Way,  193. 

India,  Alfred  sends  alms  to,  100. 

Ine,  King  of  Wessex,  his  pilgrimage 
to  Rome  and  death,  16;  his  laws, 
30  and  note  i,  21,  note  I ;  their  pro- 
visions concerning  the  Welsh,  21  ; 
concerning  slaves,  320 ;  concerning 
chapmen  and  trade,  323,  note  i  ;  ex- 
tent of  the  shire-organization  in  his 
time,  224. 

Ingelram,  Count  of  Ponthieu,  marries 
the  sister  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
500 ;  excommunicated  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  Rheims,  502. 

Inguar,  see  Ivar. 

Ireland,  advance  of  the  Wikings  upon, 
59,  62,  63  ;  their  settlements  in,  71 ; 
its  earliest  towns  founded  by  them, 
71  ;  first  appearance  of  the  Danes  in, 
73,  note  I,  86  ;  see  Dublin,  Ostmen. 

Iron  supplied  by  Scandinavia  to  Brit- 
ain, 430. 

Ipswich,  plundered  by  Norwegian 
Wikings,  354;  its  importance,  431. 

Islandshire,  survival  of  the  ancient 
divisions  of  Deira,  221. 

"  Itene  Wood,"  167. 

Ittingford,  the  frith  of  Wedmore  re- 
newed at,  183. 

Ivar,  or  Inguar,  the  Boneless,  leader 
of  the  Wikings,  attacks  Munster,  86  ; 
brother  of  Hubba,  87,  note  1,91;  at- 
tacks East  Anglia,  87  ;  conquers  it, 
87,  note  1,91;  returns  to  Deira,  93  ; 
his  race  become  kings  of  Northum- 
bria, 117. 

Jarrow  burned  by  the  Wikings,  49. 
*•  Jarl "   corresponds   to   the   English 
"  aetheling,"  55. 


590 


INDEX. 


Jedburgh,  Wulfstan  prisoner  at,  280. 

Jelling,  burial-mounds  of  Gorm  and 
Thyra  at,  348. 

Jeothwel,  King  of  the  North  Welsh, 
becomes  subject  to  Eadward  the 
Elder,  200,  note  I. 

John  XII.,  Pope,  gives  the  pallium  to 
Dunstan,  304. 

John  the  Old-Saxon  made  abbot  of 
Athelney,  151,  170  and  note  2. 

Jomsborg,  Harald  Blaatand's  strong- 
hold on  the  Baltic,  351  ;  Harald  dies 
there,  351;  its  independence  under 
Palnatoki,  351;  Swein's  dealings 
with,  352  ;  its  jarls  defeated  by  Jarl 
Hakon,  390 ;  see  Palnatoki,  Sigwald. 

Judith,  daughter  of  Charles  the  Bald, 
her  marriage  with  -^Ethelwulf  and 
coronation,  78,  79,  note  i  ;  her  mar- 
riage with  Baldwin  Iron-arm,  175. 

Judith,  sister  or  daughter  of  Baldwin 
of  Lille,  marries  Tostig,  son  of  God- 
wine,  504. 

Judwal,  King  of  North  Wales,  story 
of  his  tribute  to  Eadgar,  310,  note  3  ; 
present  in  .tthelstan's  Witenage- 
mots,  215  and  note  i. 

Jurisprudence,  early  English,  21. 

Justice,  public,  its  original  ground- 
work, 21 ;  earliest  conception  of,  22  ; 
reorganized  by  Alfred,  132,  133  ; 
difficulty  of  enforcing,  28,  134,  135  ; 
its  regulation  under  Jfethelstan,  216, 
217;  folk's  justice,  27;  king's  jus- 
tice, 29. 

Justiciar,  his  office,  96,  412,  476,  notey 

524- 

Jutland,  settlement  of  the  Danes  in, 
83 ;  conquered  by  Gorm,  347. 

Jutland,  South,  the  original  Engle 
land,  60 ;  its  kings  dependent  on  the 
kingdom  of  Westfold,  60-62  ;  kings 
of,  see  Godfrid,  Harold,  Heming. 

K 

Kenneth  MacAlpin,  King  of  the  Scots 
of  Dalriada,  succeeds  to  the  Pictish 
throne,  177;  Edinburgh  ceded  to 
him,  311;  and  perhaps  Lothian,  452 ; 
his  "raids  upon  Saxony," 452. 

Kent,  lingering  heathenism  in,  9  ;  its 
Witan  petition  ^thelstan  to  enforce 
justice,  29  ;  revolts  against  Offa  and 
Cenwulf,  43  ;  its  relation  to  Wessex 
under  Ecgberht,  66  ;  its  wealth  and 
importance,  74,  75  ;  its  fyrd  defeated 
by  the  Walkings  in  Thanet,  76 ;  its 
eastern  shores  ravaged  by  pirates 


from  Gaul,  81 ;  united  to  Wessex  at 
the  accession  of  ^thelred,  82,  note 
I;  invaded  by  Hasting,  163,  164; 
early  use  of  coin  in,  218;  kingdom 
of,  its  shires  perhaps  represented  by 
the  lathes,  222  ;  becomes  a  shire  of 
the  West-Saxon  realm,  225  ;  called 
"  Kent  -  shire,"  225,  note  i  ;  iron- 
mines  in,  322 ;  salt-works  in,  322 
and  note  2  ;  harried  by  ])irates  from 
Ireland,  367  ;  by  Thurkiil,  390  ;  sup- 
ports Godwine,  513,  note  2;  joined 
with  Essex,  etc.,  under  Leofwine, 
544 ;  revolts  against  Odo  of  Bayeux, 
553  ;  kings oi.see ^thelbald, ^thel- 
berht,  itlthelstan,  ^Ethelwulf,  Eadric, 
Hlothere. 

Kesteven,  249,  note  3,  250. 

Kettleside,  265. 

King,  the,  his  judicial  powers,  29  ;  ap- 
peals to,  29  ;  his  justice  supersedes 
the  folk's  justice,  29 ;  his  court,  30  ; 
his  "  grith,"  32  ;  his  progresses  and 
their  results,  31,32;  growth  of  his 
dignity,  32,33,291 ;  his  consecration, 
33»  295  ;  organization  of  his  house- 
hold, 33,  172;  change  in  the  con- 
ception of  his  position,  133 ;  becomes 
the  source  of  justice,  133  ;  his  su- 
preme jurisdiction,  134  and  note  i  ; 
principle  of  personal  allegiance,  199, 
200 ;  his  territorial  character,  202  ; 
importance  of  his  presence  and  per- 
sonal action,  247, 291 ;  weakness  of 
his  position,  291,  292 ;  his  share  in 
the  appointment  of  bishops,  333, 
505  ;  growth  of  the  royal  adminis- 
tration, 523  ;  his  writ,  525. 

"  King's  Court,"  524. 

Kingdoms,  the  Three,  i,  2,  38;  their 
influence  on  the  kingship,  33  ;  on 
social  classes,  34 ;  on  folk-moot  and 
Witenagemot,  35,  36  ;  weakness  of 
Northumbria  and  Mercia,  37-44; 
their  break-up,  44-47- 

Kings,  tribal,  tlieir  relation  to  the 
aethelings,  34;  number  of,  in  the 
earlier  states,  38 ;  their  extinction, 
38  and  note  i. 

Kingston,  crowning  of  yEthelstan  at, 
209,  note  2  ;  of  Eadred,  275  and  note 
2  ;  of  .^thelred  II.,  341,  note. 

Kirbyshire,  survival  of  the  ancient  di- 
visions of  Deira,  221. 

Kirkshire  or  parish,  13,  222. 

Kirtlington,  Witenagemot  at,  338. 

Kyle  in  Ayrshire,  263. 

Kynesige,  Bishop   of  Lichfield,  kins- 


INDEX. 


59 


man  of  Dunstan,  270,  note  i ;  sent 
with  Dunstan  to  bring  Eadwig  back 
to  the  coronation  feast,  296. 


Labor-rents  at  Hurstbourn,  317 ;  at 
Dyddenham,  318. 

Lake  district,  Norwegian  settlements 
in,  265  and  note  2. 

Lambay  Island,  63,  note  4. 

Lambeth,  Harthacnut  dies  at,  468. 

Lancashire,  its  origin,  228,  wt?/^;  Nor- 
wegian settlers  in,  265. 

Lancaster,  264. 

Land,  its  possession  the  test  of  free- 
dom, 200. 

Landnama-bok,  125. 

Land's  End,  yEthelstan  at,  212. 

Land-tax,  its  beginning,  389  and  note  ; 
its  assessment,  389 ;  the  basis  of 
English  finance,  414 ;  its  effects, 
414 ;  its  amount,  447 ;  see  Danegeld. 

Land-wehr,  the,  127. 

Lanfranc,  a  citizen  of  Pavia,  at  Av- 
ranches,  485  ;  his  school  at  liec, 
486  ;  opposes  William's  marriage, 
531  ;  reconciled  with  him,  531 ;  ne- 
gotiates at  Rome,  531. 

Laon,  city  of  the  West  Franks,  255. 

Lastingham  destroyed  by  Danes,  89. 

Lathes  of  Kent,  222. 

Law,  early  conception  of,  19 ;  written 
law,  its  limited  sphere,  20;  criminal 
law,  Eadmund's  reform  of,  26,  27, 
267. 

Lawmen  at  Cambridge,  442,  note  3  ; 
Chester,  425 ;  Lincoln,  1 1 7, 432, 442, 
note  3  ;  Stamford,  117,  442,  note  3. 

Laws  of  Alfred,  139,  140  and  note  i  ; 
iEthelberht,  20  and  notes  i  and  2  ; 
iEthelstan,  216  and  note  4,  225  and 
note  2  ;  Cnut,  427  ;  Eadgar,  408  ; 
Hlothere  and  Eadric,  20,  notes  i  and 
3  ;  Wihtraed,  20,  notes  i  and  3  ;  Ine, 
20  and  note  i,  21,  note  i. 

Legates  sent  by  Alexander  II.,  559; 
their  share  in  Wulfstan's  elevation, 

559. 

Leicester,  226 ;  one  of  the  Five  Bor- 
oughs, 116;  taken  by  iEthelflaed, 
198;  date  of  its  submission,  183, 
note  3 ;  stormed  by  the  Ostmen, 
260  ;  recovered  by  Eadmund,  260. 

Leicestershire,  226 ;  Danish  settle- 
ments in,  118;  severed  from  Mer- 
cia  and  joined  with  Nottingham, 
etc.,  under  Beorn,  479,  482. 

Leo  IX.,  becomes  pope,  496  ;  his  re- 


forms, 500 ;  excommunicates  the 
rebel  princes,  501  ;  quashes  Spear- 
hafoc's  appointment  to  London,  507 ; 
taken  prisoner  by  the  Normans, 
530;  lays  Normandy  under  inter- 
dict, 531. 

Leofa,  slayer  of  Eadmund  I.,  269. 

Leofric,  son  of  Leofwine,  Ealdorman 
of  the  Hwiccas,  409 ;  Earl  of  Mer- 
cia,  461  ;  opposes  Godwine's  policy, 
462 ;  supports  the  claims  of  Har- 
ald,  462  ;  demands  a  division  of  the 
realm,  462  ;  his  royal  descent,  479  ; 
his  influence,  479 ;  opposes  God- 
wine,  484 ;  his  share  in  the  religious 
revival,  496 ;  joins  the  king  at 
Gloucester,  509  ;  his  death,  544. 

I-^ofric,  chancellor  to  the  Confessor, 
525;  Bishop  of  Crediton,  525,  526. 

Leofsige,  Ealdorman  of  Essex,  358  and 
notes  3  and  4;  his  jurisdiction  over 
the  reeves  of  Oxford  and  Bucking- 
ham, 250,  note  I ;  sent  to  buy  a  truce 
with  the  pirates,  378;  his  "pride 
and  daring,"  378  and  note  3 ;  slays 
^fic,  379  and  note  i  j  banished,  379 
and  note  2. 

Leofwine,  Bishop  of  Lichfield,  558. 

Leofwine,  Ealdorman  of  the  Hwiccas, 
357,  note  1, 358  ;  of  Mercia,  403, 409. 

Leofwine,  son  of  Godwine,  flies  to 
Dublin,  510;  his  earldom,  544. 

Leominster,  the  Abbess  of,  483. 

Leonaford,  153. 

Lethra,  347  and  note. 

Lewes,  mint  at,  219  ;  tolls  of,  320. 

Lewis  the  Gentle,  Emperor,  supports 
Harold  in  Jutland,  61. 

Lewis  the  German,  his  struggle  with 
pirates,  141  ;  his  death,  141. 

Lewis  III.,  King  of  the  West  Franks, 
defeats  Guthrum  at  Saucourt,  141  ; 
his  death,  141. 

Lewis  "from  over -sea,"  son  of 
Charles  the  Simple  and  Eadgifu,  at 
the  court  of  ^Ethelstan,  254;  re- 
called by  the  West  Franks,  254 ; 
breaks  with  Hugh  of  Paris  and  the 
Normans,  255 ;  recalls  his  mother, 
255  ;  his  alliance  with  ^thelstan 
and  Arnulf  of  Flanders,  256  ;  break- 
up of  their  league,  256 ;  his  war 
with  Otto,  256;  league  of  Hugh, 
William,  and  Arnulf  against,  256 ; 
driven  from  Lorraine,  261  ;  recon- 
ciled with  William,  Otto,  and  Hugh, 
261 ;  master  of  Normandy,  262  ; 
taken  prisoner  by  Harald  Blaatand 


592 


INDEX. 


and  the  Normans,  268 ;  his  libera- 
tion demanded  by  Eadnuind,  268. 

Lewton,  Witenagemot  at,  213,  note  i, 
215,  notes. 

Lichfield,  bishops  of,  see  Kynesige, 
Leofwine. 

JLi^ge,  a  priest  of,  his  Life  of  St.  Dun- 
stan,  269,  note  2. 

Limerick  founded  by  ^Yikings,  71. 

I>imoges  pillaged  by  Wikings,  73. 

Lincoln,  one  of  the  Five  Boroughs, 
117  ;  its  lawmen,  117,  432,  442,  note 
3  ;  submits  to  Eadward  the  Elder, 
199 ;  its  growth,  432  ;  connection  of 
its  merchants  with  the  North,  431 ; 
its  merchant-gild,  432. 

Lincolnshire,  226,  227  ;  trithings  and 
wapentakes  in,  117;  Danish  settle- 
ments in,  117  ;  attached  to  the  Mer- 
cian earldom,  536  ;  joined  with 
Leicester  and  Nottingham  under 
Beorn,  479,  482. 

Lindisfarne  plundered,  49, 89  ;  Bishop 
Eardulf  expelled  from,  102. 

Lindiswaras,  land  of,  becomes  Lincoln- 
shire, 226,  227. 

Lindsey,  kings  of,  38,  note  i  ;  descents 
of  the  Wikings  on,  74 ;  its  bishop 
expelled  by  the  Danes,  89  ;  submits 
to  Swein,  393  ;  negotiates  with 
Cnut,  396. 

Literature  under  yElfred,  148-151  ; 
English  prose,  its  birth,  153  ;  its 
character,  154  and  notes ;  Alfred's 
translations,  155-157,  161  ;  the 
Chronicle,  158-160  and  notes;  lit- 
erature under  Alfred's  successors, 
284  and  note  i  ;  influence  of  the 
Glastonbury  school  on,  285  ;  differ- 
ence between  the  first  and  second 
schools  of,  285  ;  its  revival  under 
Dunstan  and  Eadgar,  325,  327. 

Lithsmen  of  London,  443;  support 
Harald  Harefoot's  claims,  462. 

Lochlann,  White,  63,  note  i. 

London,  the  mother-city  of  Essex,  143  ; 
under  Mercian  rule,  437-439  ;  con- 
quered by  Ecgberht,  143 ;  sacked 
by  the  Wikings,  75, 143  ;  Danes  win- 
ter at,  100,  note  2  ;  doubtful  story 
of  .Alfred's  besieging  them  there, 
100,  note  2  ;  becomes  subject  to 
Guthrum,  118, 144 ;  passes  into  /El- 
fred's  hands,  144 ;  repeopled  by 
him,  144  and  note  ;  its  walls  restored, 
188,  441 ;  intrusted  to  ^thelred  of 
Mercia,  144, 164 ;  its  severance  from 
Essex  and  formation  of  its  depen- 


dent shire,  145  and  note  2,  228;  its 
situation,  145,  note  2  ;  its  men  attack 
the  Danes  in  Essex,  165  ;  taken  from 
Mercia  and  annexed  to  Wessex  by 
Eadward  the  Elder,  188  ;  mint  at, 
219;  possibly  included  in  the  East- 
Saxon  ealdormanry,  250;  ^thelred 
IL  gathers  a  fleet  at,  361  ;  repulses 
Swein  and  Olaf,  364  and  note  i ; 
successfully  resists  Swein,  394 ; 
sends  hostages  to  him,  394  ;  i^thel- 
red  returns  to,  396;  yEthelred  dies 
a^  399  ;  besieged  by  Cnut  and  Ead- 
rJc,  399 ;  Eadmund  chosen  king  in, 
399 ;  its  defence  against  Cnut,  399  ; 
ceded  to  Cnut,  401,  note;  Cnut 
crowned  at,  408;  obscurity  of  its 
early  history,  434 ;  disappearance 
of  Roman  life  from,  434,  435,  439, 
note  2 ;  its  heathenism,  435 ;  its 
growth,  435  ;  church  and  monastery 
of  St.  Paul  at,  435  ;  its  trade,  438, 
440,  445  ;  sokes  in,  436  ;  churches 
in,436, 438, //^/(f  I  ;  its  growth  under 
Bishop  Erkenwald,  438,  note  i ;  its 
oldest  part,  438  ;  site  of  its  port, 
438;  its  wic- reeve  or  port -reeve, 
438, 443  ;  Offa's  vill  in,  439  and  note 
I;  East-Cheap,  440;  its  bridge,  439, 
note  2  ;  its  geographical  position, 
440 ;  its  importance  under  ^thel- 
stan,  442  ;  its  frith-gild,  442  ;  its 
eight  moneyers,  219,  442  ;  cnichten- 
gild,  443  ;  merchant-gild,  443,  462  ; 
connection  of  its  municipal  with  its 
ecclesiastical  life,  441,  note  3,  443  ; 
its  port-mannimot,  443 ;  its  growth 
under  ^thelstan's  successors,  443, 
444;  under  Eadgar  and  ^thelred, 
445,446;  Danes  settled  in, 446;  its 
taxation  in  Cnut's  first  year,  447; 
becomes  the  centre  of  the  kingdom 
under  Cnut,  447;  its  lithsmen,  443, 
462 ;  Flemish  merchants  in,  499  ; 
declares  for  Godwine,  515;  Ead- 
ward the  ajtheling  dies  at,  545  ;  sur- 
renders to  William,  552 ;  his  char- 
ter to,  553  ;  Witenagemots  at,  408, 
509»  515;  bishops  of,  see  Dunstan, 
Erkenwald,  Mellitus,  Spearhafoc, 
Theodred,  William,  Wini. 

Lorraine  harried  by  the  Wikings,  141  ; 
its  loyalty  to  the  Karolingian  house, 
256 ;  becomes  subject  to  Lewis 
from  over-sea,  256;  Lewis  driven 
out  of,  261. 

Lorraine,  Lower,  see  Godfrey. 

Lotharingians  in  royal  chapel,  525?  5-^' 


INDEX. 


593 


Lothian,  452;  possibly  granted  by 
Eadgar  to  Kenneth,  452 ;  granted 
by  Cnut  to  Malcolm  II.,  453  ;  re- 
sults of  the  cession,  453. 

"  Lunden-wara,"  the,  441,  uofe  3. 

Lyderic,  Count  of  Flanders,  492. 

Lymne,  Wikings  land  at,  163. 

M 

Macbeth,  Mormaer  of  Moray,  murders 
Duncan,  475  ;  succeeds  him  as  King 
of  Scots,  475,  538 ;  defeated  by  Si- 
ward,  539  ;  his  death,  539. 

Maerleswegen,  shire -reeve  of  Deira, 
joins  revolt  against  Tostig,  541, 
uofe  2. 

Magesaetas,  400  ;  join  Edmund  Iron- 
side, 400 ;  see  Herefordshire. 

Magnus,  son  of  St.  Olaf,  King  of  Nor- 
way, 458 ;  treaty  with  Harthacnut, 
458 ;  claims  throne  of  Denmark, 
475  ;  drives  Swein  Estrithson  out, 
483;  threatens  to  invade  England, 

483. 

Maine  conquered  by  Geoffrey  Martel, 
489;  by  William,  533. 

Malcolm  I.,  King  of  Scots,  son  of  Con- 
stantine,  262  ;  Cumbria  granted  to, 
266. 

Malcolm  II.  defeated  at  Durham,  383  ; 
again  invades  Northumbria,  452 ; 
submits  to  Cnut,  452 ;  receives  a 
grant  of  Lothian,  453. 

Malcolm  III.,  son  of  Duncan,  becomes 
King  of  Scotland,  539  ;  sworn  broth- 
er of  Tostig,  543  ;  marries  Marga- 
ret, 556;  swears  fealty  to  William, 
556. 

Maldon  fortified  by  Eadward  the  El- 
der, 195  ;  Danes  defeated  at,  196  ; 
victory  of  Norwegians  at,  354. 

Malger,  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  531. 

Man,  Isle  of,  colonized  by  the  Norwe- 
gians, 265 ;  iEthelred  II.  makes  a 
descent  upon,  368.. 

Manchester  (Mancuniuni)  fortified  by 
Eadward  the  Elder,  206. 

Manors,  labor-rolls  of,  317-319. 

Margaret,  daughter  of  the  aetheling 
Eadward,  536;  her  marriage,  556. 

Matilda,  daughter  of  Baldwin  V., 
sought  in  marriage  by  William  of 
Normandy,  498 ;  marriage  forbid- 
den, 502  ;  it  takes  place,  531. 

Mellitus,  Bishop  of  London,  his  mis- 
sion -  work,  434,  435  ;  founds  St. 
Paul's,  435. 

Melrose  destroyed  by  the  Danes,  89. 

38 


Merchant -gild  of  Lincoln,  432  ;  Lon- 
don, 443,  462  ;  Nottingham,  422. 

Mercia,  lingering  heathenism  in,  9, 10 ; 
earliest  written  law  in,  19 ;  its  con- 
dition at  the  close  of  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, 43,  44 ;  its  five  great  ealdor- 
men,  44,  n6,  note  3  ;  its  five  regions, 
226  ;  its  dependent  relation  to  Wes- 
sex,  90,  137,  184 ;  threatened  by  the 
Danes,  90 ;  makes  peace  with  them, 
91  ;  pays  tribute  to  them,  92  ;  con- 
quered by  them,  loi  ;  its  division 
into  Danish  and  English,  loi,  uo/e 
2,  116;  Eastern  or  Danish  Mercia, 
the  district  of  the  Five  Boroughs, 
116,  117;  Western  or  English  Mer- 
cia, its  extent,  116,  136;  its  impor- 
tance, 136 ;  its  union  with  Wessex 
under  ^^Ifred,  137 ;  the  intellectual 
revival  under  him,  148-150 ;  raid  of 
the  Wikings  upon,  187  ;  ravaged  by 
Danes,  188 ;  part  of  it  annexed  to 
Wessex,  188  ;  wholly  annexed,  199  ; 
traces  of  its  separate  existence  in 
the  election  of  ^thelstan,  209,  note 
2  ;  traces  of  its  original  divisions, 
226,  227  ;  its  shire  -  organization, 
226 ;  derivation  of  its  shire-names, 
227 ;  Eadgar  chosen  king  of,  299  ; 
reunited  to  Wessex,  302  ;  disappear- 
ance of  monasticism  in,  328  ;  rav- 
aged by  Cnut,  399  ;  kings  of,  called 
"Kings  of  the  English"  by  the 
Franks,  43 ;  their  policy  towards 
the  Church,  68;  their  burial-place 
at  Repton,  loi ;  see  -^thelstan, 
Beorhtwulf,  Burhred,  Ceolwulf,  Ead- 
gar, Offa,  Wiglaf,  Wulfhere  ;  ealdor- 
manry  of,  137 ;  created  by  Alfred, 
247  ;  suppressed  by  Eadward,  247  ; 
revived  by  Eadwig,  297 ;  significance 
of  its  revival,  297  ;  its  extent  under 
Eadwig,  297  and  j/ote  2  ;  suppressed, 
342 ;  revived  in  favor  of  Eadric, 
385  ;  called  "  Myrcenarice,"  392  ; 
ealdormen  of,  see  JEKhere,  ^Ifric, 
iEthelred,  Eadric ;  earldom  of,  its 
extent  under  Leofric,  479 ;  further 
reduced,  481  ;  again  extended,  517, 
537  ;  earls  of,  see  ^Ifgar,  Eadwine, 
Leofric,  Leofwine. 

Meredydd,  son  of  Owen,  359. 

Mersc-wara,  75.      • 

Merton,  victory  of  the  Danes  at, 
99. 

Middlesborough,  112. 

Middlesex,  its  origin,  145,  Jiote  2,  146, 
228  ;  part  of  East-Saxon  ealdorman- 


594 


INDEX. 


ry,  250 ;  joined  with  Essex,  etc., 
under  Leofvvine,  544. 

Middleton,  Witenagemot  at,  213,  note 
I,  215,  note  2. 

Mieczyslav,  Duke  of  the  Poles,  353. 

Mildred,  St., 420,  note  2  ;  church  dedi- 
cated to  her  in  Bristol,  426 ;  Oxford, 
420  and  note  2  ;  London,  439. 

Mills  in  Dorset,  7,  note. 

Milton,  Hasting  winters  at,  163. 

Mines,  salt,  in  Cheshire,  7,  note  ;  iron, 
in  Kent,  322  ;  lead,  in  the  Severn 
Valley,  322. 

Mints,  219  ;  at  Bristol,  426  and  note  i  ; 
;f  Gloucester,  422  ;  Oxford,  138, 421. 

Monarchy,  its  character  and  growth, 
290,  291  ;  causes  of  its  weakness, 
246,  247,  291  ;  its  struggle  with  feu- 
dalism, 289,  290,  292,  293  ;  see  Eal- 
dormanries,  Ealdormen  ;  its  alliance 
with  the  Church,  67-69,  304,  305  ; 
see  Crown,  King. 

Monasticism,  its  decay,  12,  170  and 
note  1,328;  revival  of,  330 ;  atti- 
tude of  Dunstan  towards  it,  330, 
331,  note ;  of  Eadgar,  330  ;  its  local 
character,  331  ;  causes  of  its  failure, 
331  ;  its  part  in  political  contest, 
337,  339,  note  2  ;  attitude  of  God- 
wine  and  Leofric  towards,  495, 
496. 

Montacute,  554. 

Montreuil  taken  by  Arnulf,  255  ;  re- 
taken by  William  Longsword,  256. 

Moot,  folk-,  its  decline,  35  ;  answers 
to  "Thing,"  55. 

Moray,  Morma^r  of,  see  Macbeth. 

Morcant,  under -king  of  the  North 
Welsh,  present  in  ^thelstan's  Wit- 
enagemots,  215  and  note  i ;  in  Ea- 
dred's,  286. 

Morkere,  son  of  i^lfgar,  succeeds  Tos- 
tig  as  Earl  of  Northumbria,  547  ; 
submits  to  William,  552,  553  ;  re- 
volts against  him,  556;  joins  Here- 
ward,  556. 

Mortain,  counts  of,  375. 

Mortemer,  battle  of,  533. 

"Mund,"  21,  note  2,  23. 

'*  Mund-bryce,  21,  note  2. 

Munster,  Ivar  the  Boneless  in,  86. 

"  Myrcenarice,"  for  Mercia,  392. 

N 
Nantes  sacked  by  the  Wikings,  73. 
Neal  of  St.  Sauveur,  486. 
Nicaea,  Robert  the  Devil  dies  at,  457. 
Nicolas   II.,  Pope,  558;    consecrates 


Walter  and  Gisa,  558;  Tostig's 
visit  to,  546,  note  I,  558. 

"Nithing,"  504. 

Norfolk,  228,  Jiote. 

Norhamshire,  221. 

Normandy,  its  connection  with  Eng- 
lish history,  234,  235  ;  with  the  Eng- 
lish Danelaw,  236  ;  its  influence  on 
French  and  English  politics,  237, 
239 ;  claims  to  supremacy  over  the 
Bretons,  240;  attacked  by  Hugh 
the  Great  and  the  Bretons,  240  ;  its 
greatness  under  William  Long- 
sword, 261  ;  revolts  against  him, 
372 ;  its  anarchy  after  his  death, 
261  ;  mastered  by  Lewis,  262  ; 
stirred  up  against  him  by  Harald 
Blaatand,  268;  its  first  treaty  with 
England,  360,  361,  note  ;  its  friendly 
relation  to  the  Northmen,  367,  370, 
note  2;  its  growth  under  Richard 
the  Fearless,  309,  371-373  ;  under 
Richard  the  Good,  375  ;  beginnings 
of  its  connection  with  England,  376, 
377 ;  Emma  and  her  sons  take  ref- 
uge in,  395  ;  and  ^thelred,  395  ; 
the  English  aethelings  in,  396,  454; 
its  anarchy  in  William's  early  years, 
457,458;  the  Truce  of  God,  471  ; 
Eadward's  relations  to,  473  ;  revolts 
against  William,  487 ;  its  relations 
with  Flanders,  497,  499 ;  hatred  of 
Godwine,  519  ;  laid  under  interdict, 
531  ;  dukes  of,  see  Hrolf,  Richard, 
Robert,  William. 

Normans  called  "pirates"  by  the 
Franks,  237  ;  their  temper,  404,  455, 
457  ;  Norman  chaplains,  526  ;  com- 
panions of  the  ajtheling  ^Elfred, 
their  fate,  464 ;  followers  of  Ead- 
ward,  473  ;  their  aims,  490,  491  ; 
outlawed,  516;  take  refuge  in  Scot- 
land, 538. 

Northampton  submits  to  Eadward, 
196  ;  burned  by  Thurkill,  391. 

Northamptonshire,  227  ;  part  of  East- 
Anglian  ealdormanry,  250  and  note 
I  ;  joined  with  Northumbria  under 
Siward,  518;  under  Tostig,  544; 
feorm  of,  387,  note  3. 

Northmen,  use  and  meaning  of  the 
name,  48,  note,  63,  fiole  i,  65,  note ; 
see  Danes,  Norwegians,  Wikings. 

Northumberland,  228,  note  i. 

Northumbria,  lingering  heathenism  in, 
9, 10 ;  absence  of  written  law  in,  20  ; 
fall  of  its  royal  house,  39  ;  civil  wars 
in,  39,  40,  87  ;  the  Church  in,  during 


INDEX. 


595 


the  anarchy,  40  ;  its  schook,  40,  41  ; 
submits  to  Ecgberht,  91  and  note ^\ 
first  appearance  of  the  Wikings  in, 
49 ;  conquered  by  the  Danes,  87, 
88  ;  ruin  of  its  learning  and  civiliza- 
tion, 89,  90;  divided  by  Halfdene, 
1 10 ;  its  organization  under  the 
Danes,  115,  117;  joins  a  league 
against  Eadward,  208;  submission 
to  him,  208  and  note  i  ;  iEthelstan 
becomes  king  of,  212;  rises  against 
.-Ethelstan,  232,  243  ;  descent  of  the 
Ostmen  upon,  242 ;  severed  from 
Wessex,  246 ;  its  inhabitants  in 
^thelstan's  day,  252  and  note  2, 
253  ;  rises  against  Eadmund,  259  ; 
(Jlaf,  Sihtric's  son.  King  of,  277  ;  its 
Witan  swear  allegiance  to  Eadred, 
277 ;  receive  Eric  Hiring  as  king, 
278, 279  ;  Eric  driven  from,  278,  note 
I,  279  ;  ravaged  by  Eadred,  279  ; 
again  submits  to  him,  279  ;  Olaf  re- 
turns to,  279 ;  its  second  revolt  un- 
der Eric,  280 ;  its  final  submission, 
280;  Eadred  becomes  King  of,  281  ; 
reduced  to  an  earldom,  281  ;  joins 
the  revolt  against  Eadwig,  300  and 
note ;  absence  of  religious  houses 
in,  330 ;  submits  to  Cnut,  398 ;  in- 
vaded by  the  Scots,  383,417,  451  ; 
its  northern  part  joined  to  Scotland, 
452 ;  earldom  of,  divided,  357 ;  re- 
united, 383  ;  struggle  of  the  rival 
earls  in,  383,  «(?/«• ;  again  divided, 
477 ;  reunited  under  Siward,  477, 
note  I  ;  its  independence  under  him, 
474  ;  its  wild  condition,  477  and  note 
I,  478  and  note,  479,  541,  note  2  ; 
Nottingham,  etc.,  joined  with  it,5i8; 
brought  fully  under  the  royal  power, 
540,  541  and  note  i  ;  ravaged  by 
William,  555  ;  kings  of,  see  ^thel- 
red,  iEthelstan,  ^Ethelwold,  Alch- 
red,  Alfwold,  Bagsecg,  Eadberht, 
Eadred,  Eardwulf,  Ecgberht,  Ecwils, 
Eric,  Guthferth,  Halfdene,  Olaf,  Os- 
red,  Oswulf,  Ragnald,  Ricsig,  Siht- 
ric;  earls  oi,see  vElfhelm,  Copsige, 
Eadvvulf,  Ealdred,  Eric,  Morkere, 
Oslac,  Oswulf,  Siward,  Tostig,  Uht- 
red,  Waltheof ;  see  also  Bernicia  and 
Deira. 
Northweorthig,  see  Derby. 
Norway,  its  beginnings,  60  ;  its  phys- 
ical character,  53;  starting-point 
of  the  Northmen's  first  attack,  63 
and  note  i  ;  united  under  Harald 
Fairhair,    162 ;     Harald     Blaatand 


over  -  lord  of,  349 ;  ruled  by  Jarl 
Hakon,  354;  attacked  by  Swein, 
354 ;  claimed  by  Olaf  Tryggvason, 
363  ;  revolts  against  Hakon,  365  ; 
under  -  kingdom  of  England,  407  ; 
ruled  by  Cnut's  nephew  Hakon, 
407  ;  revolts  against  Cnut,  448,  450  ; 
Swein,  son  of  Cnut,  driven  out  of, 
458 ;  Tostig  takes  refuge  in,  548 ; 
kings  of,  see  Cnut,  Eric,  Harald, 
Magnus,  Olaf,  Swein. 
Norwegians,  character  of  their  coun- 
ty. 51.  53.  54.  171;  their  temper, 
52 ;  their  love  of  fighting,  52,  53  ; 
of  home,  52  and  note ;  of  the  sea, 
54 ;  their  usages,  54,  55 ;  their  re- 
ligion, 55  ;  their  warfare,  56 ;  their 
ships,  56  and  notes,  2>^,iiote  ;  causes 
of  their  movement  to  the  south,  57, 
58  and  note,  59 ;  their  first  coming 
to  England,  48,49 ;  civil  wars  among, 
60  ;  alliance  with  the  Welsh,  64,  72  ; 
their  settlement  in  Shetland,  63  ;  in 
the  Hebrides,  Orkneys,  Caithness, 
Sutherland,  and  Ross,  63,  103,  163, 
207  ;  in  Ireland,  62-65,  T^y  73'  "^^^ 
1,86;  in  Yorkshire,  iii,  112;  in 
Westmoringa-land,  263 ;  in  Man, 
265  ;  in  Lancashire  and  the  Lake 
district,  265  and  note  2  ;  in  Iceland, 
125,  162;  their  settlements  marked 
by  the  terminations  "  by,"  "  thwaite," 
and  '•  dale,"  1 1 1 ;  movement  towards 
unity  among,  161,  162  ;  threaten  the 
Scot  kingdom,  207 ;  their  settlements 
in  Norihumbria  in  ^thelstan's  day, 
252  and  note  2, 253  ;  enmity  of  Ead- 
mund 10,258;  attack  East  Anglia, 
354  ;  their  victory  at  Maldon,  354  ; 
treaty  made  with  them,  359;  its 
policy,  362,  note  1  ;  plot  to  "be- 
trap"  them,  361,  362,  note  i  ;  sack 
Bamborough,  363  ;  extent  of  their 
trade,  430,  431,432;  see  Northmen, 
W^ikings. 

Norwich,  its  position  and  importance, 
381,431  ;  harried  by  Swein,  381  ;  its 
dues  to  the  king,  431. 

Nottingham,  Danes  winter  at,  90  ;  at- 
tacked by  yEthelred  and  Burhred, 
90;  one  of  the  Five  Boroughs,  117, 
199;  its  situation  and  importance, 
199, 421  ;  fortified  by  Eadward,  199  ; 
his  bridge  and  mounds  there,  206, 
421 ;  duties  of  its  burghers,  422  ;  its 
merchant  -  gild,  422  ;  cnichten  -  gild, 
422. 

Nottinghamshire,    227 ;    joined    with 


59^ 


INDEX. 


Lincoln  and  Leicester  under  Beorn, 
479,  482;   with  Northumbria,  518, 

544.  o 

Oath,  its  use  in  folk-moot,  24 ;  see  Al- 
legiance. 

Odda,  Ealdorman  of  Devon,  106. 

Odda  or  Ddo,  kinsman  of  Eadward 
the  Confessor,  474;  his  earldom, 
511.518,537;  his  death,  544. 

Odin's  ring,  103. 

Odo,  son  of  Robert  the  Strong,  his 
defence  of  Paris,  234  ;  becomes  king 
of  the  West  Franks,  234 ;  his  strug- 
gle with  Hasting,  163. 

Odo,  Bishop  of  Ramsbury,  afterwards 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  his  Dan- 
ish origin,  214  and  note  2,  313  and 
note  2 ;  negotiates  a  peace  between 
Eadmund  and  Olaf,.  260 ;  crowns 
Eadwig,  295 ;  sends  Oswald  to 
Pleury,  329 ;  denounces  Eadwig's 
marriage,  299 ;  withdraws  from  his 
court,  298,  note  2,  299 ;  sentences 
Eadwig  and  itlfgifu  to  separation, 
299;  consecrates  Dunstan,  301,  Wf?/*? 
3  ;  banishes  ^^Ifgifu,  301,  302,  note 
I ;  returns  to  court,  302  and  note  2  j 
his  death,  302. 

Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  half-brother 
of  William  the  Conqueror,  485  ;  Re- 
gent of  England,  553  ;  Kent  revolts 
against  him,  553. 

Odo,  brother  of  Henry,  King  of  France, 

533- 

Odo,  see  Odda. 

Offa,  King  of  Mercia,  his  efforts  to  se- 
cure the  protection  of  pilgrims  from 
Alpine  robbers,  17;  his  laws,  20, 
note  I  ;  gives  itthelwold  Moll  his 
daughter  to  wife,  39 ;  his  coinage, 
219 ;  his  vill  in  London,  439  and  note. 

*'  Ofer-hyrnesse,"  134,  note  2. 

Olaf,  St.,  King  of  Norway,  448;  driven 
out  by  Cnut,  450 ;  his  trading  enter- 
prises, 113;  church  of,  in  Chester, 
425  ;  London,  446  ;  York,  434,  540. 

Olaf  the  Fair,  son  of  Ingialld,  86  and 
note  I  ;  attacks  the  Irish  coast,  86 ; 
occupies  Dublin,  86 ;  attacks  the 
Scot  kingdom,  87. 

Olaf  or  Anlaf,  King  of  Dublin,  his  es- 
cape from  Brunanburh,  244,  Jiote  i  ; 
raises  the  Danelaw  against  Ead- 
mund, 259  ;  storms  Tamworth  and 
Leicester,  260 ;  becomes  Eadmund's 
under-king,  260 ;  his  death,  259, 
note. 


Olaf  or  Anlaf,  Sihtric's  son,  takes  ref- 
uge at  the  Scottish  court,  242  ;  mar- 
ries the  daughter  of  Constantine, 
243  ;  goes  to  Dublin,  233,  243  ;  be- 
comes the  leader  of  the  Ostmen, 
243 ;  raises  the  north  against  .-Ethel- 
stan,  243  ;  his  escape  from  Brunan- 
burh, 244  and  note  i  ;  succeeds 
the  other  Olaf  as  King  of  Dublin, 
259,  fiote  ;  under-king  of  Northum- 
bria beyond  the  Tees,  277 ;  driven 
out  by  Eadric,  278 ;  returns,  279 ; 
account  of  him  in  the  saga,  281, 
note  ;  rules  in  Dublin  and  becomes 
Eadgar's  ally,  310  and  note  i. 

Olaf  Tryggvason,  his  childhood,  113, 
tiote  4;  claims  the  throne  of  Nor- 
way, 363  ;  his  Wiking  adventures, 
363  ;  joins  Swein  in  an  invasion  of 
England,  364;  his  conversion  and 
baptism,  363,  note  3  ;  treaty  with 
yEthelred  and  withdrawal,  365; 
saga  of  his  death,  368-370. 

Olaf,  King  of  Sweden,  368. 

Olaf,  called  "Tree-feller,"  51,  note. 

Olney,  treaty  of,  401. 

Onund,  the  "  Road-maker,"  51,  note. 

Ordgar,  Ealdorman  of  the  Wealhcyn, 
303  ;  father-in-law  of  yEthelwold, 
303,  note  2  ;  of  Eadgar,  303,  note  i, 
307,  no/e  I. 

Ordmaer,  Ealdorman,  307,  note  i. 

Orkneys,  Wikings  in,  63,  163,  207  ; 
Harald  Fairhair  sets  up  a  Norse 
earldom  in,  163  and  note  3,  207 ; 
starting-point  of  attacks  on  the 
Scot  kingdom,  207  ;  jarls  of,  masters 
of  Caithness,  102,  538  ;  of  the  west- 
ern isles,  538,  539  ;  see  Sigurd. 

Ormside,  265. 

"  Orosius,"  .Wilfred's  translation  of, 
155.  fi<^te,  156,  157;  first  account  of 
Denmark,  347,  note. 

Osbeorn,  son  of  Ulf,  469. 

Osbeorn,  son  of  Siward,  539. 

Osbern,  Jarl,  joins  Guthrum,  93 ;  slain 
at  Ashdown,  93  and  note  i. 

Osbern,  his  "  Life  of  St.  Dunstan,"  269, 
note  2  ;  his  account  of  the  revolt 
against  Eadwig,  300,  note. 

Osljern,  chaplain  to  Eadward,  526. 

Osburga,  mother  of  Alfred,  173. 

Osgar,  Clerk  of  Glastonbury,  sent  to 
Fleury,  329  and  note  2. 

Oslac,  the  "great  earl"  of  Northum- 
bria, 311  ;  date  of  his  elevation, 
303,  note  1,311;  banished,  339. 

Osred,  son  of  Alchred,  King  of  North- 


INDEX, 


597 


umbiia,  40;  revolt  against,  40; 
takes  refuge  in  Man,  40 ;  slain,  40. 

Ostmen,  the  name,  71,  86,  note  2  ;  alli- 
ance with  the  Welsh,  64,  77 ;  their 
quarrels,  72,  73,  note  \  ;  attack  the 
Scot  kingdom,  86;  their  alliance 
with  the  Danes  of  Northumbria, 
205,  232,  242 ;  stir  up  the  Danelaw 
to  revolt,  243,  259 ;  invade  Mid- 
Britain,  260  ;  their  alliance  with  the 
English  kings,  310;  with  Godwine, 
510  ;  their  trade  with  Chester,  423  ; 
with  Bristol,  426. 

Oswald,  nephew  of  Archbishop  Odo, 
329;  his  northern  blood,  313  and 
note  2  ;  at  Fleury,  329 ;  Bishop  of 
Worcester,  330;  his  work  on  the 
Chronicle,  326;  his  share  in  the 
monastic  revival,  330;  Archbishop 
of  York,  331;  joins  Dunstan  in 
crowning  Eadgar,  336 ;  crowns  Ead- 
ward,  338 ;  his  death,  327,  note. 

Oswine,  King  of  Cumbria,  242,  note  4. 

Oswini,  last  king  of  Deira,  38,  note  i. 

Oswulf,  King  of  Northumbria,  suc- 
ceeds Eadberht,  39  ;  slain,  39. 

Oswulf,  High  Reeve  of  Bernicia,  281  ; 
made  Earl  of  Northumbria,  281. 

Oswulf,  son  of  Eadwulf  of  Bernicia, 
revolts  against  Tostig,  542,  note  ;  his 
rivalry  with  Copsige,  542,  note; 
slain,  542,  note. 

Othere,  earliest  authority  for  the  set- 
tlements of  the  Danes,  83,  note  3  ; 
his  account  of  the  Northman's  land, 
171,  172  ;  his  description  of  Den- 
mark, 347,  note. 

Otto,  son  of  the  German  king  Henry, 
marries  Eadgyth,  daughter  of  Ead- 
ward  the  Elder,  239;  crowned  at 
Aachen,  256 ;  his  war  with  Lewis 
from  over -sea,  256;  drives  Lewis 
from  Lorraine,  261 ;  makes  peace 
with  him,  261 ;  revival  of  the  Em- 
pire under  him,  286,  494  ;  his  claim 
to  supremacy,  286,  494;  its  limits, 
495 ;  sends  ambassadors  to  Ead- 
mund,  273  and  note  ;  receives  envoys 
from  Eadred,  286,  note  2 ;  his  wars 
with  Harald  Blaatand,  309, 349 ;  his 
alliance  with  Eadgar,  314,  note  4; 
his  death,  349. 

Owen,  under-king  of  the  North  Welsh, 
submits  to  ^Ethelstan,  211  ;  present 
in  his  Witenagemots,.  215  and  note 
I  ;  in  those  of  Eadred,  286. 

Oxford,  earliest  evidence  for  its  ex- 
istence, 138,  note  1 ;  Alfred's  mint 


at,  138  and  note  I,  421  ;  foundation 
of  St.  Frideswide's,  419  ;  bord-^r- 
town  of  the  Mercian  ealdormanry, 
119,  421  ;  annexed  to  Wessex  by 
Eadward  the  Elder,  188  ;  its  extent, 
421;  its  portmannimot,  420;  its 
parishes,  420,  421  ;  its  traffic  along 
Thames,  421;  its  dealings  with 
Abingdon,  421  ;  burned  by  Thur- 
kill,390;  thegns  slain  at,  397;  Ead- 
gar's  law  renewed  at,  408 ;  Wite- 
nagemots at,  397,  408,  462;  Harald 
Hare  foot  dies  at,  466. 
Oxfordshire,  its  origin,  228  ;  its  feorm, 
387,  note  3  ;  taken  from  Mercia  and 
joined  with  Hereford,  etc.,  481  ;  with 
East  Anglia,  544. 


Pallig,  brother-in-law  of  Swein,  serves 
under  ^Ethelred  H.,367. 

Palnatoki,  a  noble  of  Funen,  Swein 
brought  up  in  his  house,  350  ;  gives 
Harald  Blaatand  his  death-wound, 
351;  seizes  Jomsborg  and  founds 
a  state  there,  351. 

Papacy,  rival  claimants  of,  496 ;  its 
revival  under  Leo  IX.,  497. 

Paris  sacked  by  the  Wikings,  73  ;  its 
defence  against  Hrolf,  233  ;  duchy 
of,  its  creation,  233;  policy  of  Charles 
the  Simple  towards,  234 ;  dukes  of, 
see  Hugh,  Odo,  Robert. 

Parish,  the,  growth  of,  13  ;  its  relation 
to  the  township,  14,  15;  priest  of, 
his  dues,  13;  supersedes  the  tun- 
reeve,  15. 

Patrick,  St.,  the  younger,  his  tomb  at 
Glastonbury,  271,  note  2. 

Paul,  St.,  church  and  monastery  in 
London,  435  ;  portmannimot  and 
muster  of  the  citizens  in  its  church- 
yard, 441,  w^/^  3,  443. 

Pavia,  birth-place  of  Lanfranc,  485. 

Peada,  38,  note  i. 

Pen,  battle  of,  400. 

Peter,  chaplain  to  Eadward  the  Con- 
fessor, 526,  527. 

Peterborough  sacked  by  Danes,  91 ; 
Chronicle  of,  327,  note. 

Pevensey,  Godwine  and  his  sons  at, 
504 ;  William  lands  at,  549. 

Picts,  the,  spoiled  by  Halfdene,  1 10 ; 
take  Alclwyd,  263 ;  rise  of  their 
kingdom,  177;  its  extinction,  178; 
name  superseded  by  that  of  the 
Scots,  178;  king  of,  see  Kenneth. 

Pilgrimages,  15;  their  route,  17  ;  their 


598 


INDEX. 


danger,  17, 18  ;  their  popularity,  18  ; 
efforts  for  their  protection,  17;  en- 
joined as  penances,  18 ;  their  evil 
consequences,  18;  pilgrimage  of 
iEthelwulf,  77;  of  Ceadwalla,  16; 
of  Ine,  16;  of  Mercian  and  East- 
Saxon  kings,  16  ;  of  Cnut,  449  ;  of 
Robert  the  Devil, 456 ;  of  Swein,  513. 

Plegmund,  a  Mercian,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  150. 

Poetry,  English,  see  Songs. 

Poitou,  489. 

Ponthieu,  its  relation  to  Flanders  and 
Normandy,  255  ;  war  between  Ar- 
nulf  of  Flanders  and  William  Long- 
sword  in,  255  ;  subject  to  William 
the  Conqueror,  533 ;  Harold  wrecked 
at,  547;  counts  of,  see  Guy,  Herlwin, 
Ingelram. 

Popes,  see  Alexander,  John,  Leo,  Nico- 
las. 

Porlock,  Harold  at,  04. 

Portmannimot  of  Oxford,  420 ;  of 
London,  443  ;  the  "  husting,"  446. 

Port-reeve  of  London,  443. 

"  Primarius,"  275  and  iiote  4- 

Progresses,  royal,  31  ;  their  effects  in 
creating  the  great  officers  of  the 
household,  32  ;  on  the  system  of 
justice,  32 ;  their  extension  under 
Eadgar,  335  ;  under  Cnut,  409. 

Pucklechurch,  Eadmund  slain  at,  269. 


Races,  mixture  of,  in  Britain,  3  ;  its  re- 
sults. 3, 4. 

Ragnald,  King  of  Northumbria,  262, 
iicte  ;  under-king  of  Deira,  277. 

Ralf  of  Mantes,  nephew  of  Eadward 
the  Confessor,  474  ;  strife  of  his  fol- 
lowers with  the  English,  508;  joins 
Eadward  against  Godwine,  509  ;  re- 
ceives part  of  Swein's  earldom,  51 1  ; 
his  forces  routed  by  Ailfgar  and 
Gruffydd,  544  ;  his  death,  544, 

Ralf  of  Wacey,  471. 

Ralf  of  Toesn'y,  533. 

Ramsbury,  bishops  of,  see  Hermann, 
Odo. 

Ramsey,  Cnut's  gifts  to,  416;  Wyth- 
nrann  Abbot  of,  525. 

Randolf  of  Bayeux,  486. 

Rapes  of  Sussex,  222. 

Reading,  Danes  at,  94,  97,  98. 

Rechru,  63,  note  4. 

Reeve,  the  king's,  his  duties,  229  ;  see 
High-reeve,  Wic-reeve,  Shire-reeve, 
Port-reeve,  Tun-reeve. 


Reginbokl,  Chancellor,  527. 

Repton,  burial-place   of  the  Mercian 

kings,  loi ;  Danes  winter  at,  loi. 
Revenue,   the    royal,   its    distribution 
under  Alfred,  174;  its  sources,  387, 
note  3. 
Rheims,  Council  of,  500 ;  its  political 

results,  501,  502. 
Richard  the  Fearless,  son  and  succes- 
sor of  William    Longsword,   261  ; 
reared  in  the  Bessin,  372 ;  his  ac- 
cession followed  by  a  civil  war,  262 ; 
his  alliance  with  Harald  Blaatand, 
348;  Normandy  under  him,  309, 373, 
374 ;  treaty  with  ^thelred,  361, 362, 
note. 
Richard  the  Good,  son  of  Richard  the 
Fearless,    375 ;    his    alliance    with 
.^thelred,  376;   gives   a  refuge  to 
i^thelred  and  his  house,  395. 
Richard  IH.,  son  and  successor  of 
Richard  the  Good,  455  ;  betrothed 
to  Adela  of  France,  502. 
Richard,  son  of  Scrob,  474. 
Richmondshire,  221. 
Ricsig,  King  of  Northumbria,  1 10  ;  his 

death,  no. 
Ridings,  see  Trithings. 
Ripon,  Wilfrid's  abbey  at,  destroyed 
by  the  Danes,  89 ;  the  church  de- 
stroyed by  Eadred,  89,  note  i,  279 ; 
yEthelstan's  grants  to,  213. 
Riponshire,  221. 

Roads,  their  dangers  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, 323  ;  Roman,  see  Watling 
Street,  Fosse,  Icknield. 
Robert  the  Devil  succeeds  Richard 
HI.  as  Duke  of  Normandy,  455  ; 
subdues  Brittany,  455  ;  restores 
King  Henry  of  France,  455 ;  sup- 
ports Baldwin  of  Flanders,  455 ; 
prepares  to  invade  England,  456  ; 
his  fleet  wrecked,  456 ;  names  Will- 
iam as  his  successor,  457;  pilgrim 
to  the  Holy  Land,  456 ;  his  death, 

457. 

Robert,  Abbot  of  Jumieges,  chaplain 
of  Eadward  the  Confessor,  474,  526, 
527  ;  his  influence  over  the  king, 
482 ;  made  Bishop  of  London,  482, 
527 ;  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  506 ; 
his  quarrel  with  Godwine,  507  ;  his 
visit  to  William,  512,  note;  his  flight, 
515,  518;  outlawed,  517;  protests 
against  Stigand's  intrusion,  519, 
558 ;  his  deposition  held  invalid, 
519.558. 

Robert  the  Strong,  Duke  of  Paris,  233. 


INDEX. 


599 


Rochester  attacked  by  the  Wikings, 
75,  142,  367  ;  relieved  by  JEUred, 
142  ;  mint  at,  219  ;  see  of,  its  lands 
ravaged  by  order  of  ^Ethelred  II., 
342,  343  ;  bishops  of,  see  Siward. 

Roderic  Mawr,  King  of  North  Wales, 
pays  tribute  to  Mercia,  77  ;  alliance 
of  his  house  with  the  Northmen, 
176;  its  submission  to  Alfred,  176. 

Rodward,  Archbishop  of  York,  212, 
213,  no/e  I  ;  his  death,  213. 

Roeskilde,  Harald  Blaatand  builds  a 
church  and  castle  at,  350  ;  Cnut 
appoints  an  English  bishop  to,  416. 

Roger  of  Toesny,  404, 455. 

Rognwald,  son  of  Harald  Fair -hair, 
burned  by  Eric  Bloody-axe,  252. 

Roilo,j^<?  Hrolf. 

Rome,  Alfred's  visit  to,  95  ;  Alfred 
sends  alms  to,  100  and  note  2 ;  his 
intercourse  with,  175 ;  Saxon  school 
at,  19,  449. 

Romney  secured  by  William,  551. 

Ross,  Wikings  in,  63,  207. 

Rouen  sacked  by  the  Wikings,  73  ; 
attacked  by  Hrolf,  234;  loyal  to 
William,  487. 

Rudolf  of  Burgundy  claims  the  West- 
Frankish  crown,  239 ;  becomes  king, 
240 ;  defeats  the  Northmen  of  the 
Loire,  240  ;  receives  the  homage  of 
William  Longsword,  241  j  his  death, 

254- 
Runcorn  fortified  by  iEthelflaed,  194. 


Saintes  pillaged  by  the  Wikings,  73. 

Salt-works  in  Dorset,  7  and  ftofe ; 
Cheshire,  7,  uo/e ;  Worcestershire, 
322 ;  Kent,  322  and  uofe  i. 

Sandwich,  raid  of  the  Wikings  on,  75  ; 
its  early  importance  as  a  seaport, 
74  and  no/e  2  ;  ^Ethelred's  fleet  as- 
sembles at,  386,  428,  uoie  i ;  Swein 
lands  at,  393 ;  becomes  the  main 
port  of  the  Channel,  428;  its  "  but- 
secarls,"  428  and  7w/e  i ;  its  ferry- 
dues  and  port-tolls  granted  by  Cnut 
to  Christ  -  Church,  Canterbury,  428 
and  uo/e  2  ;  seized  by  Harald  Hare- 
foot,  429  and  note  i  ;  its  possession 
disputed  between  Christ-Church  and 
St.  Augustine's,  429;  its  herring 
fisheries,  429  ;  Harthacnut  lands  at, 
466;   Eadward  gathers  a  fleet  at, 

483,503.514- 
Saxony,  duchy  of,  attacked  by  Harald 
Blaatand,  349. 


Scale  How,  265. 

Scandinavia,  its  dependent  position 
under  Cnut,  407  ;  supplies  iron  to 
Britain,  430;  see  Danes,  Northmen, 
Norwegians,  Swedes,  Wikings. 

Scargate  fortified  by  ^thelflaed,  190. 

Schools,  see  Abingdon,  Alfred,  Bee, 
Glastonbury,  Rome,  Winchester, 
Worcester,  York. 

Scots  subject  to  <.he  Picts,  177;  their 
name  supersedes  that  of  Picts,  178; 
join  a  league  against  iEthelstan, 
211,243;  defeated  at  Brunanburh, 
244 ;  their  alliance  with  Eadred, 
277;  invade  Northumbria,  417  ;  de- 
feated at  Durham,  383,  452;  king- 
dom of,  attacked  by  the  Ostmen, 
87  ;  by  Thorstein  and  Sigurd,  102  ; 
its  extent  in  the  time  of  Alfred, 
177;  its  alliance  with  him,  178;  its 
danger  from  the  Northmen,  206, 
207  ;  its  relations  with  Eadgar,  311  ; 
its  acquisition  of  Edinburgh,  311, 
451;  of  Lothian,  452;  its  altered 
relations  to  England,  452,  453  ;  its 
decline  under  Duncan,  538 ;  Nor- 
man refugees  from  England  in,  538 ; 

,  invaded  by  Siward,  538 ;  the  aethel- 
ing  Eadgar  takes  refuge  in,  554, 
556  ;  kings  of,  see  Constantine,  Dun- 
can, Kenneth,  Macbeth,  Malcolm. 

Seal,  its  use  under  Eadward,  468, 476, 
jio/e. 

*'  Secundarius,"  82,  fwfe  i ;  office  held 
by  iElfred,  82,  no/e  i,  96 ;  by  God- 
wine,  412  ;  instituted  by  Cnut,  476, 
fiote ;  continued  under  the  Confes- 
sor, 476,  uofe;  its  use,  524. 

Selsey,  bishops  of,  see  yEthelric,  Heca. 

Sehvood,  the  thegns  of  Wessex  con- 
spire at,  80 ;  boundary  of  East  and 
West  Wessex,  224. 

"  Selwoodshire,"  the  diocese  of  Eald- 
helm,  222,  fio/e  i. 

Semland,  278,  348. 

Senlac,  battle  of,  549-551. 

Serf,  see  Villein. 

Seterington,  Carl's  son  slain  at,  47S, 
//ote. 

Seven  Boroughs,  two  chief  thegns  of, 
slain  by  Eadric  at  Oxford,  397. 

Severn,  river,  fisheries  in,  422  and  7iote 
2  ;  lead-works  in  valley  of,  322. 

Shaftesbury,  abbey  founded  by  Alfred 
at,  127;  mint  at,  219;  Eadward  the 
Martyr  buried  at,  342. 

Sherborne,  see  of,  45  ;  bishops  of,  sec 
Ealdhelm,  Ealhstan. 


6oo 


INDEX. 


Sherstone,  battle  of,  400. 

Sheppey  ravaged  by  the  Wikings,  62  ; 
they  winter  in,  76,  77 ;  the  Danes  in 
Kent  driven  thither  by  Eadmund 
Ironside,  400. 

Shetland,  Wikings  in,  63,  163  ;  ex- 
pelled by  Harald  Fair-hair,  163. 

Ship-money,  387,  note  3. 

Ships  of  the  Wikings,  56, 57  and  notes^ 
84,  note  I. 

Shires,  their  West-Saxon  origin,  135, 
note  5,  222  ;  uses  of  the  word,  222, 
223  ;  instances  of  shires  in  Corn- 
wall, Kent,  Sussex,  Yorkshire,  222, 
223  ;  in  York,  221,  433,  note  i,  442, 
note  3 ;  later  shires  preserve  the  ad- 
ministrative  forms   of  the  "folk," 

222  ;  first  named  in  the  laws  of  Ine, 

223  ;  use  of  the  word  by  Asser  and 
iElfred,  224,  note ;  early  formation 
in  Wessex,  222-224;  Hampshire 
and  Wiltshire,  223  ;  difference  in 
names  of  earlier  and  later  shires, 
225  ;  extended  to  the  eastern  de- 
pendencies of  Wessex,  225  ;  estab- 
lished throughout  Wessex  by  ^Ethel- 
stan's  time,  225  and  note  2  ;  their 
introduction  into  Mercia,  225-227  ; 
into  the  Danelaw,  227 ;  their  late 
introduction  into  East  Anglia  and 
the  north,  228,  note ;  organization 
of  the  whole  kingdom  in,  its  date, 
22%,  note;  difference  of  their  organ- 
ization in  Wessex  and  in  Mid-Brit- 
ain, 228,  229;  sums  due  to  the  king 
from,  229  ;  financial  use  of  the  sys- 
tem, 229. 

Shire-man,  sec  Shire-reeve. 

Shire-moot  the  sheriff's  court,  230. 

Shire-reeve,  his  office  and  duties,  223, 
230;  his  importance  in  the  shire- 
moot,  230,  note  2  ;  growth  of  his  au- 
thority, 230 ;  its  executive  character, 
230,  note  3. 

Shoebury,  Wikings  encamp  at,  165. 

Shrewsbury,  castle  at,  554. 

Shropshire,  227. 

Sidroc  the  Old  and  Sidroc  the  Young, 
jarls,  join  Guthrum,  93 ;  slain  at 
Ashdown,  93,  note  i. 

Sigeric,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
negotiates  a  treaty  with  the  Nor- 
wegians, 360,  note  I ;  position  in  the 
councils  of  ^thelred,  41 1. 

Sigurd,  Jarl  of  Orkneys,  102. 

Sigwald,  Jarl  at  Jomsborg,  353,  390 ; 
his  vow  at  Harald  Blaatand's  funer- 
al feast,  3^3. 


Sihtric,  King  of  Dublin,  driven  out, 
becomes  King  at  York,  233  ;  mar- 
ries a  sister  of  iEthelstan,  210;  his 
death,  211. 

Silver  How,  265. 

Silverside,  265. 

Siward  becomes  Earl  of  Northumbria, 
469,  476 ;  of  Nottingham,  North- 
ampton and  Huntingdon,  518;  his 
independent  position,  474  ;  his  char- 
acter, 477  ;  his  surname  of  "  Digera," 
477  ;  slays  Eadwulf,  477  and  note  2 ; 
marries  Ealdred's  daughter,  477 ; 
joins  the  king  against  Godwine, 
509  ;  his  influence,  537  ;  Duncan's 
sons  take  refuge  with  him,  538 ;  in- 
vades Scotland,  539;  establishes 
Malcolm  as  its  king,  539  ;  his  death, 
540 ;  his  burial-place,  434,  540. 

Siward,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  558. 

Siward,  descendant  of  Earl  Uhtred, 
revolts  against  Tostig,  541,  note  2. 

Skeggles  Water,  265. 

Skiringsal,  centre  of  northern  trade. 
Ml,  note  z. 

Slaves,  the  English,  answer  to  the 
Scandinavian  thralls,  55  ;  tolls  on 
the  sale  of,  319 ;  efforts  of  the 
Church  in  their  behalf,  320  ;  iEthel- 
stan's  reform,  320 ;  not  bound  to 
work  on  Sundays,  320 ;  allowed  to 
purchase  their  freedom,  320  and  note 
3  ;  forms  of  manumission  and  eman- 
cipation, 321  ;  enactment  of  the 
Synod  of  Chelsea  concerning,  321. 

Slave-trade  among  the  Danes,  1 13  and 
note  4;  at  Chester,  426;  Bristol, 
427 ;  London,  438;  vain  attempts 
to  abolish,  427. 

Sleswick,  60. 

Sokes,  growth  of,  29 ;  the  soke  a  priv- 
ilege of  the  thegn,  129. 

Somerset,  origin  of  its  name,  225  ;  vic- 
tory of  its  fyrd  at  the  Parret,  72 ; 
Eadmund  Ironside  raises  troops  in, 
399 ;  detached  from  Wessex  and 
joined  with  Hereford,  etc.,  under 
Swein,  481  ;  ealdormen  of,  224,  note ; 
see  iEthelnoth. 

Somerton,  225. 

Songs,  national,  preserved  among  the 
gleemen,  324  ;  by  William  of 
Malmesbury,  284,  note  2  ;  in  the 
Chronicle,  209,  note  4,  243,  note  3, 
326  ;  Northumbrian  songs  preserved 
in  West- Saxon  versions,  285. 

Southampton  gives  its  name  to  Hamp- 
shire, 222  ;  mint  at,  219  ;  Swein  and 


INDEX. 


60 1 


•  Olaf  winter  at,  365  ;  Eadward  the 
Confessor  makes  an  unsuccessful 
descent  at,  462  ;  ealdormanry  of,  see 
Wessex  (Central). 

Southwark,  Godwine  encamps  at,  510 ; 
burned  by  William,  552. 

Spearhafoc,  Bishop  of  London,  507 ; 
his  appointment  quashed  by  the 
Pope,  507  ;  withdraws,  518. 

Stafford  fortified  by  ^Ethelflaed,  192; 
gives  its  name  to  a  shire,  226. 

Staffordshire,  its  origin,  226. 

S taller,  or  constable,  his  office,  523. 

Stamford,  one  of  the  Five  Boroughs, 
116,  197  ;  its  lawmen,  117,  442,  note 
3 ;  fortified  by  Eadward  the  Elder, 
197. 

Stamford  Bridge,  battle  of,  549. 

Stigand,  Priest  of  Assandun,  525,  557  ; 
chaplain  to  Cnut,  557  ;  to  Harald 
Harefoot,  525,  557;  first  nomina- 
tion to  a  bishopric,  557  ;  Bishop  of 
Elniham,  557  ;  friend  of  Emma,  557; 
supports  Godwine,  510,  516;  de- 
posed and  restored,  557  ;  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  558 ;  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  519,  558;  his  uncanon- 
ical  position,  519;  holds  both  sees, 
558;  his  wealth,  558;  getsapalHum, 
548,  558 ;  consecrates  two  Ijishops, 
558 ;  feeling  against  him  in  Nor- 
mandy, 519  ;  at  Rome,  558 ;  in  Eng- 
land, 558-560 ;  Wulfstan's  repudia- 
tion of  him,  559 ;  present  at  Ead- 
ward's  death,  560. 

Strath -Clyde  ravaged  by  Halfdene, 
102  and  note  2,  no ;  set  free  by  the 
wreck  of  Northumbria,  176;  joins 
the  northern  league  against  Ead- 
ward, 208 ;  submits  to  him,  208, 
note;  its  border  extended  to  the 
Derwent,  266;  the  name  replaced 
by  Cumbria,  176,  266. 

Streoneshealh  destroyed  by  Danes, 
88 ;  replaced  by  Whitby,  89. 

Strut-Harald,  Jarl  of  Zeeland,  352, 
390. 

Style,  royal,  of  Eadward  the  Elder, 
184 ;  of  iEthelstan,  231,  257,  note  3  ; 
of  Eadmund,  257,  note  3  ;  of  Eadred, 
275,  note  2,  276,  note  2,  287  ;  of  Ead- 
gar,  300,  note,  301  and  note  2. 

Suffolk,  228,  note. 

Surrey  forms  part  of  the  "Eastern 
Kingdom,"  66  ;  its  fyrd  defeated  by 
the  Wikings  in  Thanet,  76 ;  attacked 
by  the  Danes,  99 ;  earldormen  of, 
224,  note;  becomes  a  shire,  225 ;  sup- 


ports Godwine,  513,  note  2;  joined 
with   Essex,  etc.,  under  Leofwine, 

544- 

Sussex  forms  part  of  the  "Eastern 
Kingdom,"  66  ;  its  rapes,  222  ;  be- 
comes a  shire  of  the  West-Saxon 
realm,  225 ;  its  coast  harried  by 
Child  Wulfnoth  the  South  Saxon, 
390  and  note  i ;  supports  Godwine, 
513,  note  2;  kings  of,  their  extinc- 
tion, 2>^,note  I. 

Sutherland,  Wikings  in,  63,  207. 

Sweden,  its  beginnings,  51  and  note, 
60 ;  settlement  of  the  Danes  in,  85  ; 
kings  of,  see  Eric,  Olaf. 

Swein,son  of  Harald  Blaatand,  legends 
of  his  childhood,  350 ;  heads  resist- 
ance to  Blaatand,  350,  351,  note  i  ; 
his  baptism,  350,  note  i ;  exiled  by 
his  father,  351  ;  succeeds  him  as 
king,  351 ;  restores  heathenism, 351 ; 
struggle  with  Jomsborgers,  352  and 
note  I ;  his  marriage,  352,  note  i ;  his 
vow  at  Harald's  burial  -  feast,  352, 
353  ;  driven  from  Denmark,  353  ; 
his  Wiking  life,  353  ;  joined  by  Olaf 
Tryggvason  in  an  invasion  of  Eng- 
land, 364 ;  lands  at  Southampton, 
364 ;  repulsed  from  London,  364 
and  note  i  ;  treaty  with  iEthelred, 
365 ;  withdraws  from  England,  365  ; 
recalled  to  Denmark,  368;  wars 
with  Olaf  of  Sweden,  368 ;  marries 
Olaf 's  mother,  368  ;  his  victory  over 
Olaf  Tryggvason,  368,  370 ;  again 
attacks  England,  380  ;  lands  at  Ex- 
eter, 380 ;  met  by  fyrds  of  Wiltshire 
and  Hampshire,  380 ;  invades  East 
Anglia,  381 ;  breaks  truce  with  Ulf- 
cytel  and  plunders  Thetford,  381  ; 
defeats  the  East  Anglians,  381  ;  re- 
turns to  Denmark,  382  ;  sends  Thur- 
kill  to  attack  England,  390 ;  lands 
at  Sandwich,  393  ;  enters  the  Hum- 
mer, 393 ;  joined  by  the  Danelaw, 
393  ;  marches  into  Wessex,  394 ; 
receives  the  submission  of  Winches- 
ter, 394;  repulsed  from  London, 
394 ;  receives  the  submission  of 
West  Wessex,  394 ;  receives  host- 
ages from  London,  394 ;  his  death, 

395- 
Swein,  son  of  Cnut,  404  ;  driven  from 

Norway,  458 ;  his  death,  458. 
Swein  Estrithson  claims  the  crown  of 

Denmark,  469  ;    of  England,  469  ; 

Eadward's  alleged  promise  to,  470  ; 

his  struggle  with  Magnus,  475,  483  ; 


602 


INDEX. 


sails  to  England,  554 ;  bought  off 
by  William,  554. 

Swein,  son  of  Godwine,  461  ;  Earl  of 
Hereford,  etc.,  481 ;  carries  off  the 
Abbess  of  Leominster,  483  ;  out- 
lawed, 483  ;  his  restoration  opposed 
by  Harold  and  Beorn,  504  ;  murders 
Beorn,  504;  branded  as  "nithing" 
and  outlawed,  504 ;  restored,  505  ; 
flies  to  Flanders,  510;  his  earldom 
divided,  511;  his  pilgrimage  and 
death,  513. 

Swithiod,  kingdom  of,  60. 

Swithun,  St.,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
70;  his  fidelity  to  ^Ethelwulf,  80; 
his  historical  work,  158,  159  and  note 
2 ;  church  in  London  dedicated  to, 
444.  i^ote.  ^ 

Taddenescylf,  277. 

Taillefer  at  Senlac,  530. 

Tamar,  river,  boundary  of  West  Wales, 
64,212. 

Tamworth,  residence  of  the  Mercian 
kings,  44,  192,  226 ;  fortified  by 
iEthelflaed,  192;  stormed  by  the 
Ostmen,  260. 

Taxation,  national,  under  yEthelred 
H.,  387,  vote  3;  ship  -  levy  and 
Danegeld,  388,  note  ;  of  London  un- 
der Cnut,  447. 

Tempsford,  Danes  encamp  at,  196; 
taken  by  the  English,  196. 

Teowdor,  under -king  of  the  North 
Welsh,  215,  w/^  I. 

Thames,  river,  the  Danes  sail  up,  93  ; 
its  lower  valley  annexed  to  Wessex, 
188;  boundary  between  the  realms 
of  Eadwig  and  Eadgar,  301  and 
note  I. 

Thanet,  victory  of  the  Wikings  in,  76 ; 
ravaged  by  Eadgar,  335. 

Thegns,  origin  of,  34;  displace  the 
aethelings,  34 ;  their  relation  to  the 
king,  35  ;  growth  of  the  class,  129; 
its  extension  under  Alfred,  130 ; 
three  classes  of,  129 ;  their  wealth 
and  luxury,  322  ;  their  share  in  tax- 
ation, 387,  note  I. 

Thelwell,  Eadward  the  Elder  at,  205. 

Theodore,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
320. 

Theodred,  Bishop  of  the  "Lunden- 
wara,"  441,  note  3. 

Theow,  see  Slave. 

Thetford,  Ivar  and  Hubba  winter  at, 
91  ;  plundered  by  the  Danes,  381. 

"  Thing  "  corresponds  to  *'  moot,"  55  ; 


replaces  it,  115;  survival  of  the 
word  at  Thingwall,  112,  note  2. 

Thored,  Gunnar's  son,  314,  note  i  ; 
harries  Westmoringa-land,  263,  note 
2,  314,  note  I. 

Thored,  Ealdorman,  357,  note  i  ;  lead- 
er of  the  fyrcl  with  itlfric,  361. 

Thorgils,  leader  of  the  Wikings,  64 
and  note  i  ;  settles  in  Ulster,  71  ; 
destroys  Armagh,  71 ;  slain,  72. 

Thorstein,  son  of  Olaf  the  Fair,  invades 
the  Scot  kingdom,  102. 

"Thrall,"  55. 

Thunresfeld,  Witenagemot  at,  216  and 
note  2,  225,  note  2. 

Thurbrand,  478,  note. 

Thurcytel,  Jar],  holds  Buckingham, 
195 ;  submits  to  Eadward  the  Elder, 
195.  203. 

Thurferth,  Jarl,  of  Northampton,  sub- 
mits to  Eadward  the  Elder,  196,  203. 

Thurkill,  son  of  Strut-Harald  of  Zee- 
land,  390 ;  sent  to  England  by  Swein, 
390;  his  ravages,  391 ;  defeats  the 
East- Anglian  fyrd,  391  ;  bought  off 
by  yEthelred,  392  ;  sacks  Canter- 
bury and  seizes  Archbishop  yElf- 
heah,  392 ;  enters  ^-Ethelred's  ser- 
vice as  a  mercenary,  392  ;  defends 
London  against  Swein,  394  ;  rejoins 
the  Danes,  396;  makes  peace  be- 
tween Harald  and  Cnut,  396;  Eal- 
dorman of  East  Anglia,  403  ;  baji- 
ished,  407. 

"Thwaite"  in  place-names,  111,265, 
note  2. 

Thyra,  wife  of  Gorm  the  Old,  348. 

Tithes,  their  institution,  13  and  note  3, 
77,  note. 

"  Toft "  in  place-names,  265,  note  2. 

Tolls  on  the  sale  of  slaves,  320 ;  at 
Lewes,  320 ;  on  herrings  at  Abing- 
don, 421  ;  at  Sandwich,  429,  note  i. 

"  Ton  "  in  place-names,  265,  note  2. 

Torksey,  Danes  encamp  at,  loi  ;  its 
trading  importance,  421. 

Tostig,  son  of  Godwine,  marries  Judith 
of  Flanders,  504;  flies  with  Godwine 
to  Flanders,  510;  Eadward's  favor 
to,  534;  visits  Pope  Nicolas,  546, 
note  I,  558;  Earl  of  Northumbria, 
540 ;  his  character,  541 ;  his  stern 
justice,  541  and  note 2;  becomes  the 
sworn  lirother  of  Malcolm,  543  ;  ris- 
ing of  Northumbria  against  him,  547; 
its  leaders,  541,  ttote  2  ;  goes  to  Flan- 
ders, 547 ;  goes  to  Norway  and  joins 
Harald  Hardrada  in  an  invasion  of 


INDEX. 


60 


England,  549;  engages  "butsecarls" 
at  Sandwich,  428,  note  i  ;  his  over- 
throw at  Stamford  Bridge,  549. 

Tottenhale,  Danes  defeated  at,  187. 

Toulouse,  Wikings  at,  73. 

Touraine  conquered  by  the  counts  of 
Anjou,  489. 

Towcester  fortified  by  Eadward  the 
Elder,  196  ;  attacked  by  Danes,  195. 

Township,  the,  its  relation  to  the  par- 
ish, 14,  15. 

Trade,  ^^thelstan's  regulations  con- 
cerning, 218;  inland  trade  in  the 
tenth  century,  321-323,  419-426 ; 
development  of  external  trade,  423 
et  seq. ;  impulse  given  by  the  Danes, 
423  ;  trade  on  the  east  coast,  429 ; 
of  the  Northmen,  430  ;  of  London, 
445  ;  of  Flanders,  492, 493 ;  between 
England  and  Flanders,  498. 

Trithings  in  Deira,  115;  their  divisions, 
115  ;  in  Lincolnshire,  1 17. 

Treasurer,  see  Hordere. 

Treasury,  see  Hoard. 

Truce  of  God,  471. 

Tun-moot,  the,  its  place  of  meeting,  15 ; 
survival  in  parish  vestry,  16. 

Tun-reeve,  the,  superseded  by  the  par- 
ish priest,  14. 

Tunsberg,  its  trade,  431,  vote. 

Tynemouth,  burning  of,  88. 

U 

Ufegeat  blinded,  382,  note. 

Uhtred,  son  of  Waltheof,  made  Earl 
of  Northumbria,  382 ;  defeats  the 
Scots,  382,  452  ;  his  marriages,  383,- 

477,  note  2  ;  joins  Swein,  393  ;  joins 
Eadmund,  398 ;  submits  to  Cnut, 
398,  478,  note ;  his  feud  with  Thur- 
brand,  478,  note;  murdered,  400,403, 

478,  note. 

Ulf,  his  marriage  with  Estrith,  408 ; 
ruler  of  Denmark,  407,  408 ;  guar- 
dian of  Harthacnut,  448. 

Ulf,  Norman  chaplain  of  Eadward, 
474,  526,  527 ;  Bishop  of  Dorches- 
ter, 491,  526,  527  ;  his  flight,  515. 

Ulf,  son  of  Dolfin,  541,  note  2. 

Ulfcytel,  ruler  in  East  Anglia,  378, 
note  1, 381  ;  his  northern  blood,  381 ; 
independence  of  East  Anglia  under 
him,  381  ;  defeated  by  Swein,  382  ; 
by  Thurkill,  391  ;  joins  Eadmund, 
400  ;  slain  at  Assandun,  401. 

Ulster,  Wikings  in,  71. 

Ulverston,  265. 

•*  Unraedig,"  i^thelred  the,  356. 


Val-es-Dunes,  battle  of,  488. 
Varangians,  the,  English  among,  553. 
Vermandois,  counts  of,  241. 
Vestry,  parish,  14. 
Villeins,  their  tenure,  316;  degrees  of 

their  social  rank,  317,  note  2;   free 

socially  though  not  politically,  319  ; 

the  free  ceoris  gradually  degraded 

into.  345. 
*'  Vinheidi,"  244,  note. 

W 

Walbrook,  438. 

Wales,  North,  see  Welsh. 

Walter,  a  Lotharingian,  527  ;  chaplain 
to  Eadgyth,  528 ;  Bishop  of  Here- 
ford, 528 ;  consecrated  at  Rome,  558. 

Waltham,  Harold's  church  at,  558. 

Waltheof,  Earl  of  Northumbria,  340. 

Waltheof,  Earl  of  Bernicia,  357,  382. 

Waltheof,  son  of  Siward,  540;  joins 
the  revolt  against  Tostig,  542,  note ; 
legends  of  his  exploits,  542,  note ; 
avenges  Ealdred's  death,  478,  note. 

Wantage,  94  and  note  2. 

Wapentake,  meaning  and  origin  of  the 
word,  115;  its  use  in  Lincolnshire, 
117. 

Warbury,  i^lhelflaed  at,  194. 

Wardour,  story  of  J^Mvtd  at,  168. 

Wareham,  shire-town  of  Dorset,  428  ; 
Guthrum  encamps  near,  103  ;  mint 
at,  219 ;  Eadward  the  Martyr  buried 
at,  341. 

Warwick,  its  origin,  193 ;  fortified  by 
yEthelflaed,  193  ;  gives  its  name  to  a 
shire,  226 ;  its  feorm,  388,  note. 

Warwickshire,  its  origin,  226. 

Waterford  founded  by  Wikings,  71. 

Watiing  Street,  191,  note  i  ;  origin  of 
name,  191  and  note  2 ;  seized  by 
-^thelflaed,  190. 

Wcalh-cyn,  2,  72. 

Wearmouth,  burning  of,  49. 

Wedmore,  peace  of,  107  ;  its  effect  on 
Europe,  108;  on  the  Danes,  146;  on 
the  English,  146,  147. 

Weile,  burial-mounds  near,  348. 

Weland  the  Wiking,  81,  note  3. 

Wells,  bishops  of,  see  Duduc. 

Welsh,  North,  their  relation  to  Mercia, 
43  ;  revolt  against  it,  77  ;  their  alli- 
ance with  the  Danes,  165  ;  become 
subject  to  Alfred,  176;  to  Eadward 
the  Elder,  200,  note ;  to  .'Ethelstan, 
211;  kings  of,  present  in  ^thelstan's 


6o4 


INDEX. 


Witenagemots,  215  and  notes  ;  Ead- 
gar's  relations  with,  310 ;  united 
under  Meredydd,  359 ;  at  war  with 
Mercia,  392  ;  rising  of,  suppressed 
by  Cnut,45o;  Gruflfydd  ap Llewelyn's 
power,  475,  543  ;  league  of  Gruffydd 
and  ^Ifgar,  544;  revolt  against  the 
Normans,  553 ;  kings  of,  see  Cledauc, 
Eugenius,  Gruffydd,  Howel,  Jeoth- 
wel,  Judwal,  Llewelyn,  Meredydd, 
Morcant,  Owen,  Roderic,  Teowdor, 
Wurgeat. 

Welsh,  West,  provisions  concerning 
them  in  Ine's  law,  21  ;  rise  against 
Ecgberht,  64;  defeated  at  Hengest- 
dun,  64,  65  ;  revolt  against  -Alfred, 
165 ;  subdued  by  /Ethelstan,  211,212. 

Wends,  raids  on  Jutland,  85,  tioie ; 
kings  of,  see  Burislaf. 

"  Wendune,"  or  "  Weondune,"  244, 
note. 

•' Wer,"  assessed  in  coin  in  the  laws 
of^thelberht,  218. 

Werburgh,  St.,  church  of,  at  Chester, 
186,  423,  note. 

Werfrith,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  his 
school,  149;  literary  work,  149,  168; 
possible  share  in  the  Worcester 
Chronicle,  183,  note  3. 

Werwulf,  chaplain  to  JElfred,  150. 

Wessex,  earliest  written  law  in,  20 ;  its 
military  strength,  44 ;  its  geographi- 
cal advantages,  44,  45  ;  its  varied 
composition,  45, 65, 66;  its  extension 
west  of  Selwood,  224 ;  its  adminis- 
trative order,  46 ;  its  connection  with 
the  "Eastern  Kingdom,"  66;  its  mil- 
itary organization,  66,  67 ;  revolts 
against  .Ethelwulf,  80 ;  closer  union 
with  Kent,  82,  note  ;  its  isolation  in 
face  of  the  Danes,  93  ;  surprised  by 
them,  104;  its  exhaustion,  125;  its 
revival  under  .Alfred,  127  et  seq.  ; 
decline  of  monasticism  in,  170  and 
twte  1,  328;  oath  of  allegiance  to 
Eadward  in,  202 ;  change  in  its  re- 
lations to  northern  Britain,  206 ; 
probable  date  of  its  shire  organiza- 
tion, 224;  extension  of  the  shire-sys- 
tem to  its  eastern  deiDendencies,  225 ; 
organization  of  its  shires,  228,  229  ; 
foreign  alliances  of  its  kings,  239 ; 
source  of  the  second  old  English 
literature,  285  ;  its  three  divisions, 
302  ;  its  new  organization  under 
Eadgar,  303  ;  ravaged  by  Thurkill, 
391 ;  by  Cnut,  397 ;  submits  to  Cnut, 
398;    made  into  an  earldom,  410; 


adheres  to  Harthacnut,  461 ;  accepts 
Harald  as  king,  465;  kings  of,  see 
Alfred,  yEthelbald,  ^thelberht, 
^thelred,  vEtlielstan,  ^thelwulf, 
Ceadwalla,  Cenwalch,  Eadgar,  Ead- 
mund,  Eadward,  Eadwig,  Ecgberht, 
Harthacnut,  Ine  ;  earldom  of,  its  ex- 
tent and  importance,  480  ;  altered 
position  of  the  king  in,  480  ;  Somer- 
set and  Berkshire  detached  from, 
481  ;  earls  of,  see  Godwine,  Harold. 

Wessex,  the  original  or  Central,  44, 
222  ;  later  ealdormanry,  302,  303  ; 
submits  to  Swein,  394;  ealdormen 
of,  see  /Elf  heah,  /Elfric,  ^Ethelmaer. 

Wessex,  Western,  mixture  of  blood  in 
its  population,  45  ;  its  strong  West- 
Saxon  character,  45  ;  ealdormanry 
of,  302, 303  ;  submits  to  Swein,  394 ; 
ealdormen  of,  sec  yEthelmaer,  ^Ethel- 
weard. 

Westfold,  kingdom  of,  60 ;  kings  of, 
see  Biorn,  Godfrid,  Harald. 

Westminster,  Harald  Haiefoot  buried 
at,  466 ;  home  of  Eadward  the  Con- 
fessor, 480;  William  crowned  at, 
552. 

Westmoreland,  228,  note. 

Westmoringa-land,  the  modern  West- 
morelandj_266,  note  2  ;  colonized  by 
Norwegians,  263  ;  harried  by  Tho- 
red,  263,  note  2  ;  character  of  coun- 
try and  people,  264 ;  English  fugi- 
tives in,  264. 

Whitby,  Danish  settlement,  89,  ill. 

Whithern,  English  bishops  of,  264  and 
note  I ;  see  Badulf. 

Wic-reeve  of  London,  438,  443. 

Wight,  extinction  of  its  kings,  38,  note 
I  ;  Wikings  winter  in,  366,  384 ; 
meeting  of  Godwine  and  Harold 
off,  514. 

W^iglaf,  King  of  Mercia,  deposed  by 
Ecgberht,  47  ;  restored,  47. 

Wigmore,  Eadward  the  Elder  at,  195. 

Wiheal,  Uhlred  slain  at,  478,  note. 

Wihtraed,  King  of  Kent,  his  laws,  9, 
20,  notes  I  and  3. 

Wikings,  the  name,  54  and  note  2 ; 
their  two  lines  of  attack,  59,  73  ; 
raids  on  South  England,  72-77,  81, 
82 ;  on  Gaul,  73,  74 ;  greed  for  booty 
rather  than  dominion,  83  ;  impor- 
tance for  them  of  Britain,  83  ;  con- 
centration of  their  forces  on  it,  103  ; 
see  Danes,  Norwegians,  Ostmen. 

WilbarstOHe,  312. 

William  Longsword,  son  of  Hrolf,  his 


INDEX. 


605 


policy,  237  ;  his  war  with  Hugh  the 
Great  and  the  Bretons,  240,  241  ; 
conquers  the  Cotentin,  241  ;  does 
homage  to  Rudolf  of  Burgundy, 
241 ;  iEthelstan's  negotiations  with, 
254 ;  his  war  with  Arnulf  of  Flan- 
ders, 256  ;  excommunicated,  256  ; 
leagues  with  Hugh  and  Arnulf 
against  Lewis,  256  ;  rejoins  the  Kar- 
olingian  party,  261 ;  alliance  with 
Harald  Blaatand,  348 ;  revolt 
against,  372;  murdered,  261. 

William,  sou  of  Robert  the  Devil,  his 
birth,  457  ;  appointed  by  Robert  as 
his  successor,  457  ;  anarchy  of  his 
early  years,  458  ;  his  boyhood,  472  ; 
his  temper,  472  ;  his  counsellors, 
485;  revolt  against  him,  487;  his 
escape,  487  ;  seeks  aid  of  the  French 
king,  487;  Val-es-Dunes,  488 ;  helps 
King  Henry  against  Geoffrey  of 
Anjou,49o;  his  vengeance  on  Alen- 
5on,  490  ;  wins  Domfront,  490 ;  seeks 
the  hand  of  Matilda  of  Flanders, 
498  ;  the  marriage  forbidden,  502  ; 
visits  England,  512;  alleged  prom- 
ises of  the  Crown  to,  473,  512  and 
vote;  marries  MatikU, 531;  threat- 
ened with  excommunication,  531  ; 
his  quarrel  and  reconciliation  with 
Lanfranc,  531  ;  revolts  against,  532  ; 
attacked  by  France  and  Anjou,  532 ; 
his  plan  of  defence,  532  ;  its  success, 
533  ;  Harold's  oath  to,  547 ;  his 
claim  against  Harold,  547  ;  lands  at 
Pevensey,  549  ;  his  exploits  at  Sen- 
lac,  550;  his  victory,  551;  advance 
over  southern  England,  551 ;  Lon- 
don submits  to,  552  ;  his  crowning, 
552;  founds  the  Tower,  552;  his 
charter  to  London,  553 ;  his  rule, 
553 ;  returns  to  Normandy,  553  ; 
takes  Exeter,  553  ;  subdues  the 
north,  553  ;  occupies  York,  554 ; 
Eadwine  and  Morkere  submit  to, 
553;  general  rising  against,  554; 
his  vow  of  vengeance  on  the  north, 
554;  buys  off  the  Danes,  554;  re- 
lieves Shrewsbury,  554 ;  ravages 
Northumbria,  555  ;  his  march  to 
Chester,  555  ;  last  revolt  against, 
556  ;  Ely  surrendered  to,  556 ;  re- 
ceives the  fealty  of  Malcolm,  556. 

William,  a  Norman  priest,  chaplain  to 
Eadward  the  Confessor,  474,  526, 
527  ;  made  Bishop  of  London,  518, 
526,  527. 

William  of  Arques,  532. 


William  of  Eu,  532. 

William  Fitz-Osbern,  friend  of  Will- 
iam  the  Conqueror,  485  ;  left  as  re- 
gent in  England,  553 ;  relieves  Ex- 
eter, 554. 

Wilsaetan,  bishops  of,  see  Ramsbury ; 
ealdormen  of,  224,  note. 

Wilton  gives  its  name  to  Wiltshire, 
223  ;  victory  of  the  Danes  at,  lOO. 

Wiltshire,  origin  of  its  name,  223 ; 
"  Wiltun-scire,"  224,  note;  its  rela- 
tion to  Hampshire,  224,  note;  Swein 
marches  into,  380;  plundered  by 
Thurkill,  391 ;  war  against  Cnut  in, 

399- 

Winchanheale,  39. 

Winchester,  centre  of  the  older  Wes- 
sex,  44  ;  advantages  of  its  position, 
44  ;  raid  of  the  Wikings  on,  81  ;  its 
abbey,  127;  its  mint,  219;  ^thel- 
wold's  school  at,  325  ;  clerks  sup- 
planted by  monks  in  its  cathedral 
church,  330;  the  royal  Hoard  in, 
387,  note  I ;  submits  to  Swein,  394 ; 
dwelling-place  of  Emma  after  Cnut's 
death,  462,  463  ;  Eadward  the  Con- 
fessor crowned  at,  468 ;  surrendered 
to  William,  552  ;  Witenagemots  at, 
213,  note  I,  215,  note  i  ;  bishops  of, 
see  vElfheah,  yEthelwold,  Denewulf, 
Stigand,  Swithun  ;  Chronicle  of,  its 
origin,  157-159;  its  account  of  the 
reign  of  Eadward  the  Elder,  181, 
note,  183,  note  3  ;  its  character  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  ^thelstan,  21 1,  note 
3  ;  its  last  continuation  possibly  due 
to  Bishop  iEthelwold,  326. 

Wimborne,  ^Ethelred  I.  buried  at,  100. 

Wini  buys  see  of  London,  437,  note  i. 

Wirral,  northern  settlers  in,  265. 

Witenagemot,  the,  changes  in  its  char- 
acter, 35,  36  and  note  i ;  not  a  rep- 
resentative of  the  nation,  37  and  note 
I  ;  a  royal  council  named  by  the 
king,  37  and  note  2  ;  its  composition 
under  ^Ethelstan,  212,  213,  note  i, 
215  and  notes;  its  rights,  215,  216  ; 
its  work  in  restoring  public  order, 
216;  at  Eadred's  crowning,  its  na- 
tional character,  275  and  note  2 ; 
presence  of  northern  jarls  and 
Welsh  princes  in,  under  Eadred, 
286 ;  increasing  importance  of  the 
ealdormen  in,  292  ;  its  measures  of 
defence  against  the  Danes,  385, 389, 
391, 392  ;  recalls  ^Ethelred  IL,  395  ; 
assembled  by  Cnut  to  sanction  his 
election  as  king,  408;  chooses  Har- 


6o6 


INDEX. 


aid  for  king,  462  ;  tries  and  acquits 
Godwine,  464  ;  chooses  Harthacnut 
for  king,  465 ;  rejects  Godwine's 
proposal  to  help  Swein  Estrithson, 
483;  Godwine  outlawed  by,  510; 
Godwine  restored  and  the  "  French- 
men "  outlawed  by,  515,  516;  ^Ifgar 
outlawed  by,  544 ;  of  Kent,  petitions 
^thelstan  to  enforce  justice,  29  ;  of 
Mercia  and  Wessex,  divides  the 
realm  between  Eadwig  and  Eadgar, 
301,  note  I  ;  of  Wessex,  banishes 
Emma,  465,  557  ;  deposes  Stigand, 
557 ;  forsakes  Harthacnut  and 
chooses  Harald  as  king,  466 ;  Wit- 
enagemot  at  Calne,  338 ;  Colches- 
ter, 213,  note  I,  215,  note  2  ;  Exeter, 
216  and  note  2, 218 ;  Feversham,  216 
and  note  2  ;  Frome,  215,  note  i,  242, 
note  3;  Greatley,  216  and  note  2; 
Kirtlington,  338;  Lewton,  213,  note 
1,215,  "0^^^  I  London,  408,  509,  515  ; 
Middleton,  213,  note  i,  215,  note  2  ; 
Oxford,  397,  408,  462  ;  Thunresfeld, 
216  and  note  2,  225,  note  2;  Win- 
chester, 213,  note  I,  215,  note  i  ; 
Worcester,  559  ;  York,  213,  note  i. 

Witch  drowned  at  London  Bridge,  11, 
441,  note  I. 

Witchcraft,  decrees  against,  10,  11. 

Witham,  Eadward  the  Elder  at,  189. 

Worcester,  Bishop  Werfrith's  school 
at,  150  ;  becomes  the  centre  of  Eng- 
lish historicalliterature,  327;  its  im- 
portance, 423 ;  resistance  to  Har- 
thacnut's  Danegeld  at,  467;  see  of, 
annexed  to  that  of  York,  333  ;  bish- 
ops of,  see  Aldulf,  Dunstan,  Ealdred, 
Werfrith  ;  first  or  lost  Chronicle  of, 
its  origin  and  composition,  183,  note 
3,  327  and  note;  preserved  in  the 
Peterborough  Chronicle,  327,  note, 
355,  note  I ;  its  influence  on  the  later 
historians,  328;  its  importance,  328 
and  note ;  its  character  in  reign  of 
-c^thelred  II.,  355,  note  ;  extant 
Chronicle  of,  iis  date,  327,  jiote ; 
Witenagemot  at,  559. 

Worcestershire,  226 ;  salt-works  in, 
321;  severed  from  Mercia,  479; 
joined  with  Gloucester  under  Odda, 

517. 

"Worth"  in  place-names,  265,  note  i. 

Wreckage  in  Thanet  punished  by  Ead- 
gar, 335 ;  rights  of,  at  Sandwich, 
428,  note  2. 

Writ,  the  king's,  525. 

Writing,  introduction  of,  19. 


Wulfeah  blinded,  382,  note. 

Wulfgar,  Ealdorman,  counsellor  of  the 
crown  under  Eadmund,  275. 

Wulfgeat  made  high  reeve,  382 ;  de- 
prived, 382  and  note. 

Wulf heard,  Ealdorman  of  Hampton- 
shire,  defeats  the  Wikings,  72  and 
note  I. 

Wulf  here.  King  of  Mercia,  sells  the 
see  of  London  to  Wini,437,  note  i. 

Wulfhere,  an  English  ealdorman,  de- 
serts to  the  Danes,  140,  note  2. 

Wulfnoth,  Child,  the  South -Saxon, 
390  and  note  i. 

Wulfstan,  St.,  Prior  of  Worcester,  559; 
made  Bishop  of  Worcester,  559  ; 
consecrated  by  Ealdred,  559 ;  his 
repudiation  of  Stigand,  559. 

Wulfstan,  Archbishop  of  York,  213  ; 
present  in  /Ethelstan's  Witenage- 
niots,  213,  note  i,  242,  note  3  ,  2^; 
his  influence  in  the  north,  260 ;  his 
policy,  260 ;  mediates  between  Ead- 
mund and  the  Danes,  260  ;  joins  the 
Danish  party  under  Olaf,  260 ;  ac- 
companies (Jlaf  and  his  host  into 
Mid-Britain,  260  ;  helps  to  negotiate 
a  peace  between  Eadmund  and  Olaf, 
260;  returns  to  court,  268;  swears 
allegiance  to  Eadred,  277 ;  breaks 
his  oath,  277 ;  present  at  Eadred's 
court,  277,  note  3,  280,  twte  i ;  arrest- 
ed, 280 ;  released,  280,  note  2. 

Wulfstan,  his  voyage  up  the  Baltic, 
172;  itlfred's  comment  on  it,  59, 
note,  172;  his  account  of  Denmark, 
347,  note. 

Wulfwig,  chancellor  to  Eadward  the 
Confessor,  526 ;  made  Bishop  of  Dor- 
chester, 527  ;  his  consecration,  558. 

Wurgeat,  under -king  of  the  North 
Welsh,  215,  ;/f?/^  i. 

Wye,  river,  boundary  between  Welsh 
and  English,  211,  212;  fisheries  in, 
422,  note  2. 

Wythmann,  German  chaplain  of  Cnut, 
made  Abbot  of  Ramsey,  525. 


York,  Alcuin  born  at,  40  ;  its  school, 
41  and  note ;  seized  by  th>!:  Danes, 
87  ;  its  defences,  87  and  note  4 ;  vic- 
tory of  the  Danes  at,  88  and  note  i  ; 
the  minster  rebuilt,  41  ;  disappear- 
ance of  its  library  and  school  at  the 
Danish  conquest,  89 ;  Danes  winter 
at,  91  ;  traces  of  Danish  settlement 
in  its  local  names,  114;  capital  of 


INDEX. 


607 


Danish  North umbria,  115, 117;  sub- 
mits to  iEthelflaed,  198  and  note  3  ; 
Witenagemot  at,  212,  note  3  ;  ^th- 
elstan  receives  the  West-Frankish 
envoys  at,  254;  submits  to  Cnut, 
398;  its  trade,  114,  432,  434  and 
note ;  Roman  remains  at,  in  Dun- 
stan's  time,  432  ;  its-  castle-mound 
and  Danish  fortress,  432  ;  its  popu- 
lation, 433  and  note  ;  its  extent,  434 ; 
its  suburbs,  434 ;  its  fishermen,  434 ; 
its  Danish  quarter,  434 ;  its  churches, 
434 ;  Si  ward  dies  at,  539  ;  occupied 
by  William,  554;  stormed,  and  its 
garrison  slaughtered,  555  ;  "shires" 
in,  221,  433,  notCy  442,  note  3  ;  see  of, 


its  importance  after  the  Danish  con- 
quest of  Northumbria,  89;  Worces- 
ter annexed  to  it,  333 ;  see  Arch- 
bishops. 

Yorkshire,  traces  of  Danish  settlement 
in  its  local  names,  1 1 1,  11?  and  notes  ; 
trade  of  the  Danish  settlers  in,  113, 
114;  its  ridings  and  wapentakes, 
115;  traces  of  the  ancient  divisions 
of  Deira  in,  221  ;  late  introduction 
of  the  name,  228,  note  ;  see  Deira. 

Yser,  river,  Godwine's  fleet  in,  513. 


Zeeland,  settlement  of  the  Danes  in,  83; 
jarls  of,  see  Strut- Ilarald,  ThurkilL 


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